Tagged: astros

Get It Going, Guys!!

There’s just a couple of things I’d like to touch on about the game last night.

First of all, Luke Gregerson. The guy has been absolutely amazing for us this year. Last night he came in to pitch in the top of the 10th and did not do well at all. I know that these guys can’t be perfect all year, so I guess it was okay that he had a bad outing, but it was still tough. He walked two batters in a row, which is unheard of for Luke. It was seriously disturbing to listen to. Luke’s been so amazingly solid this season, it was just shocking to see him do anything different than domination.

He’s only walked six batters all season. It was definitely disappointing that he allowed those three runs in the top of the tenth to lose the game, but it’s okay…as long as we win the next three games in this series.

The other thing was that Scott Hairston got ejected in the bottom of the eighth. As the umpire called him out on strikes, Scotty flipped his bat. When he picked it up, the umpire started having words with him. Scott responded, and the ump threw him out almost instantly. I’m not sure what Scotty said that warranted him getting thrown out, but I was really pleased with him. Good for him to get in the ump’s face and get fired up. I think it’s good for the team to see some fire like that.

The Padres have not been doing that great this week, and that worries me a little. Hopefully we will be able to pick things up for our last couple series until the All-Star break.

Speaking of the All-Star break, look where we are right now. We’re on top of the NL West, and we have been for a really long time. We’ve almost reached the halfway mark of the season. I think we’re going to make it. If we can go a whole first half winning consistently and holding onto our first-place lead, I think we can do it for the second half too.

Can you believe the season is almost half over already? It just amazes me how fast the time’s been going. Incredible.

I know we’ve got a lot of season left. It’s going to be great.

Okay, we’ve got a couple of aces going up against together tonight. Roy Oswalt vs. Mat Latos. I am counting on Mat to have a great outing tonight. We need a solid outing from him, a bunch of offense from the guys, and some great defense. Bottom line, we need to win this game. We’ve got to get back up and get going. We NEED this series!!

GO FIRST-PLACE PADRES!!! 

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Gem of a Performance

I was a little frustrated with my boys after that series against the Rockies, but it was nice to have an off-day and then get back out there on the field against the Astros. Last night’s game was incredible.

latosgem.jpgFirst of all, Mat Latos. This kid is a stud. He’s just amazing, and I have a feeling that he’s going to do great things for this organization in the future. He’s definitely got the makeup to be a number one starter someday soon. Last night, he threw eight innings, only allowing two hits. No runs, no walks, no nothing. He also struck out nine batters. If my memory is correct, I think that outing was the longest any of our starters have gone so far. Absolutely amazing.

And on top of that, he hit two doubles and drove in a run. He was on his game last night. Stunning performance by Mat Latos.

But Mat didn’t do everything himself. He had a lot of help from the rest of the lineup. Scott Hairston was in the leadoff spot for the first time, and guess what he did? He hit two home runs!! I love Scotty. He’s so valuable to this club, not just this year, but in 2007 and 2008 too.

scottyhomerr.jpg Chase Headley also hit a big two-run homer. Ryan Webb pitched the ninth, and we won the game 7-0.

We now have our first-place lead back, if only by half a game. But we’ll be okay. This team has proved to me over and over again that they are very capable of winning consistently. One bad game is not going to change that.

I’m so excited about these boys. They’re good. They’re solid. They’re winning and they’re going to keep doing that. I can’t wait to see what else this season holds.

GO FIRST-PLACE PADRES!!! 

Two-Hitter

I’m blaming this one on Roy Oswalt.

roy oswalt.jpgI bet Jake Peavy was going crazy in the dugout. Sitting there on the bench with his ankle in a cast, he was probably itching to be out there, knowing that he should be the one on the mound pitching against his buddy. He must have been ragging on Roy all night after the game over the phone, but what Oswalt did to the Padres was no laughing matter. It was amazing.

Roy pitched the whole game, allowing two hits and one run. That run came in on a wild pitch. That just goes to show how good he was. Man, TWO hits?? Goodness. We were utterly shut down. Roy had a excellent outing.

On the Padres side, Josh Geer wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t good enough. He threw seven innings, allowing three runs on seven hits. He didn’t walk a batter though, which was great.

Greg Burke and Cla Meredith each threw a scoreless inning.

But the game ended with a 3-1 Astros score. It should be said, though, that the Padres hit some balls really well, but were robbed by some great defense. 

And so, we lost. We are now 15 games behind the Dodgers, by the way. We gained a couple games over the weekend, but those Dodgers keep winning and winning. And watch out – the Manny is coming back this weekend against the Padres. I think we may have a sold-out weekend…

Just because you wanted to know, Kouz is slightly growing out his beard right now and IT LOOKS AMAZING!!!  AHHHHH!! I love it when he does that. He doesn’t look that great clean-shaven. He looks so great with a beard!! But of course, he looks great all the time 😀

Well, Josh Banks is going to start against Mike Hampton. Banks hasn’t started for us a while, but I’m pretty sure he started last year. I’m not sure how well he did, but he must have had some decent outings. It will be very interesting to see how he does.

GO PADRES!!!   

It’s Déjà Vu All Over Again

How about a round of applause
A standing ovation

But you put on quite a show
Really had me going
Now it’s time to go
Curtain’s finally closing
That was quite a show
Very entertaining
But it’s over now (but it’s over now)
Go on and take a bow

The Padres started out the season wonderfully, almost unbelieveably. I enjoyed it while it was there, I thought, why not? We might not play like that in a long time. Well, turns out I was right. The Padres’ amazing start was just temporary. Now, we can’t hit, we can’t pitch, and we can’t win.

I don’t know what’s wrong with this team. The players have figured out that they haven’t been able hit, pitch, or have solid defense all at the same time. But they haven’t figured out how to fix that yet.

This weekend, we got swept in three to the Houston Astros. We could have, should have, won two of those games.

On Saturday night, we got three runs in the top of the eighth to take the lead. But Luke Gregerson got himself into some trouble in the bottom of the eighth. He was taken out in favor of Cla Meredith, who allowed two runs to score, taking away the Padres’ short-lived lead.

We should have won that game. But the bullpen blew it. It seems whenever we are hitting, really hitting, the bullpen goes out there and matches the runs scored by our boys. It’s terrible!

Yesterday, Josh Geer gave up seven runs in three innings, only five earned. Luis Perdomo gave up two runs. Edwin Moreno and Duaner Sanchez were (miraculously) scoreless, but Arturo Lopez gave up three runs in the bottom of the eighth.

But we hit three home runs. Chase Headley and Adrian Gonzalez each had a two-run shot, and Jody Gerut had a solo shot. We had nine hits, but only five runs. We should have had a lot more runs, but the Astros got some providential defense to keep the Padres from scoring. It was so sad!!

Scott Hairston threw out a runner at home, though. So the 12-5 thumping could have been worse.

After the game, Arturo Lopez was sent down to Triple-A. Yes!! The guy had a great Spring, but he just couldn’t pitch here. Drew Macias came back up. I have a feeling that he’ll be going back and forth a lot to Triple-A. Now we’re a man short in the bullpen, so the guys who are still there need to step it up. So do the starters. Kevin Towers is going to start picking these guys off, one by one, if they keep pitching like they have been.

Here’s the Union-Tribune’s headline this morning: “Houston, they have a problem; make that several.”

It’s so true. We’re pathetic right now. Today is an off-day, and it couldn’t come at a better time. We need a break. The fans need a break. The players…they need to get together, relax, go bowling or play pool or something, and figure this thing out.

I’m prepared to listen to baseball as terrible as this for the rest of the season. I’m prepared to see a loss every single day. But I don’t want to face that. I want this team to win. It’s so hard to lose. I’m prepared to do it, but I really don’t want to. I had to go through that last year. I know what it’s like.

We’ve got all the pieces. Now it’s just a matter of putting them all together. The fans are doing all they can. We’re “keeping the faith,” but that’s not going to do much if the players aren’t doing anything on the field.

The Padres better start doing something positive soon, or I’m going to have to take drastic measures…like go out to Petco Park and talk to them myself 🙂 Speaking of which, I am getting so excited about the game! I really hope I can get a few autographs and balls. We’ll have to see 🙂

We’re playing the Cubs for three games starting tomorrow before coming home to face the Reds, Giants, and Cubs. It will be good to be home for a while…I think. There had better be bigger crowds this homestand!! 

What better way to start a new series than a perfect outing by Jake Peavy! But then again, we never score runs for him. Hopefully this will be one of those rare occasions, though. We need a huge outburst against the Cubbies this week!

GO PADRES!!

(lyrics: “Take a Bow” by Rihanna  azlyrics.com)