Tagged: cardinals
WANTED: Guys who can actually support their pitchers with a few runs!!!
I think I’ve figured out what our problem is. For those of you who haven’t been watching the Padres, we are 4-6 in our last ten games, and we are in a serious slump right now. Ever since we won our opening series against the Cardinals, we have lost two series and split two more.
Last night, we lost the first of three games to the Cubs 1-0 in 10 innings. It was so bad! The only problem with this team right now is that we can’t hit. Like, at all. Sure, we do break out the bats like every three games, but the rest of the time, nothing’s going.
But the thing is, our pitching is fine. Our pitching is amazing! Tim Stauffer threw seven innings last night, only allowing four hits with one walk and four strikeouts. But he got zero run support.
Mike Adams, Luke Gregerson, and Chad Qualls also threw, but Qualls was the one who allowed the run for the Cubs’ win.
As of right now, we are completely out of it. Even if we were winning, the Colorado Rockies are on fire. They’re blowing away everyone in the division with a record of 12-4. The Giants are behind them with a record of 9-7 and three games behind. We are currently in fourth place and five games behind.
But I guess we’ll just have to see how the season goes. We’ve still got a ton of season left, and a lot can happen. But we’d better get our bats going ASAP!!!!
GO PADRES!!!!!
(Photo/ESPN.go.com)
Walk-Off Win, Series Won
The past two games have been AMAZING. I knew that we would have to fight pretty hard to beat these Cardinals, but it actually hasn’t been too bad at all.
In the first game of the series, we scored our first and only run in the bottom of the second on Jerry Hairston Jr.’s first home run of the season. Jon Garland was amazing, going seven inning and allowing no runs. Mike Adams took an inning, and then Heath Bell made things extremely stressing again, but we pulled off the 1-0 win.
Then last night was crazy! But let me just say, both Kevin Correia and Jaime Garcia pitched amazingly. They both went six innings, allowing no runs. I was really pleased about K-Cor’s outing because his last two have been pretty shaky. I think it’s safe to say that he’s back and he’s on his game. Last night’s effort was great.
On the offensive side, things were horribly slow. We didn’t get our first run until the bottom of the eighth, when Matt Stairs doubled in Adrian.
We handed our narrow lead to Heath Bell in the top of the ninth, which turned out to be a not-so-good idea. I know that Heath’s our closer and all, but he makes me sooooo nervous, and if I was Buddy Black, I would not have trusted him with that lead.
I know that all closers blow one every once in a while…but still.
Last night Heath came very, very close to getting himself out of the mess that he had got himself into in the first place. In every single save opportunity, he always allows baserunners. He lets things get too close. He’s gotta learn that that’s just not going to cut it. He keeps being such a daredevil and this time it really came back to bite him. He blew the save, allowed the tying run (though he didn’t really have any help from his defense), and sent us into extra innings.
Extra innings. Personally, they annoy me like crazy because then that means I have to stay up later and later. Last night I listened to the tenth, but then just went to bed. So it wasn’t until this morning that I found out how the game ended, but I’m so glad that we won!
In the bottom of the 13th, with two outs, Jerry Hairston hit the first pitch he saw right out of the park for a walk-off home run. So cool!!!
Obviously, it was really great to win the series, and against the Cardinals too! I was kind of apprehensive going into this series because I knew that we had always been dominated by the Cardinals. But this has been pretty easy. I thought we would be having a slugfest going here or something, but St. Louis has only scored one run in 21.5 innings. HAHAHAHA!
It feels really good to be winning against a team like this.
And we’ve still got our first-place lead! Plus, we’re going for a sweep today. Things are looking good in Padres baseball.
GO PADRES!!
Missing Kouz
Kevin Kouzmanoff has been gone from the Padres for about four months. I haven’t really dedicated an entry to him at all since the season started, so I’d like to update you all on how he’s been doing over with the A’s.
First of all, I really miss him. I think I would probably miss him even more if my Padres weren’t doing so well. I mean, if we were down in the cellar, I would be a lot more upset. So far, the Padres have been playing so well that I haven’t really had time to think about my baby. But I still miss him like crazy.
On Friday, I’m going to my first game of the year, which also marks my first Padres game since Kouz got traded. It’s going to be very sad not to have him there. I LOVE going to games, but I was always extra excited about it because I would get to see Kouz. It’s going to be very sad without him there.
Kouz has been doing very well with Oakland. I’m just really glad that he didn’t leave and then completely bomb like some other people who left San Diego did (*cough Trevor and Jake cough*).
Right now he’s hitting .265 with three home runs and 21 RBIs. But on the defensive side, he already has four errors. Last year he had three total. I think he’s really provided a lot to Oakland, and for that I’m thankful.
I think I would also miss him a lot more if Chase was a total bust at third for us. But as it is, he’s been pretty decent, and I’m thankful for that too.
I do miss him a lot though. It’s so sad that he had to leave. But no matter what, this dude will always be my number one favorite baseball player. I’m going to be out there on Friday night with my special Kouzmanoff jersey, and maybe I’ll even break out a picture of Kouz to put on my sleeve. I know that it’s going to be a special night. Since we’re playing against the Nationals, I’m really hoping that we’ll get a big win. The Nationals actually aren’t doing too bad this season, but still.
But first, we’ve got the Cardinals to deal with. I think this is going to be a huge series. By the way, I’m really really glad that we were able to come back and win the series over the weekend over the Mariners. We like NEVER win a series against the Mariners, or any Interleague games for that matter, so I was really, really glad we were able to get that. Plus, we got our one-run first-place lead back, so we’re good. But the Cards are going to be an extremely tough team to beat. I think. Looking at the records alone, we are actually very close. It’s going to be a very well-matched series, so it’ll be interesting to see who comes out on top. Hopefully, it will be my Padres!
I’m so excited. It’s going to be a great week of Padres baseball.
GO FIRST-PLACE PADRES!!
Come On Guys!!
Last night’s game between the Red Sox and and Angels was not good, man. Not good at all. The Sox got shut out in a 5-0 loss. Jon Lester allowed three runs in six innings, and Ramon Ramirez allowed two. The offense only had four hits and they committed three errors! Ergh. It was not good. Not the greatest way to start off the playoffs, but hey. We’ve seen this team work miracles before. I should not start panicking, but I really don’t want to have to cheer for any other team than the Red Sox this postseason.
Come on, guys, keep your heads up. You’ll get them today.
Josh Beckett is pitching, and we all know how incredible he’s been in the postseason. Let’s hope that he’ll be able to even things up for the Red Sox tonight.
The Dodgers won again last night, which is very frustrating. Get it going, St. Louis!!
When I opened up the newspaper yesterday morning, I found some very perplexing news. Marcus Giles was arrested because his wife said he had assulted her.
Oh boy. Before the season started, I blogged a little about Brian Giles’ situation. His ex-girlfriend accused him of abusing her, and there was a whole mess of that situation. Brian countered that she had abused him, and it was pretty crazy. Brian barely played at all for us this season, and it’s extremely likely that this was his last season in a Padres uniform.
Now, Marcus is getting into it! I almost can’t believe it. He’s been married for quite a while, and they have three little girls. This is just crazy!
Marcus played for one season with the Padres, and I loved him. He got to play with his brother and all that, plus he played pretty well for us. The Padres relased him after that season, though, and he hasn’t played in the majors since. Oh dear.
Well, the Padres made a few moves yesterday, nothing too exciting. Cha Sueng Baek, Cliff Floyd, and Shawn Hill were waived. All three were fails this year. Baek was supposed to be a big part of our rotation, but he got hurt and was out all year. Pretty much the same story for the other two dudes. We actually had a lot of guys who that happened to before the season. It was not good. Like Mark Worrell, one of the pieces in the Khalil Greene trade, the side-armer. The Padres really liked what they were seeing…and then he had to have Tommy John surgery. So much for him.
We’ve got some exciting postseason baseball going on right now. Wow, it’s been amazing! Hope you all are having a lot of fun watching it 🙂
GO PADRES’ FRONT OFFICE!! GO RED SOX!!
Pujols the Paranoid
The last two games of the Padres-Cardinals series were pretty forgettable. On Saturday, when Hyun Young was at the game, my boys lost 7-0. Yeah, great. Just great.
Yesterday (man this keyboard is dirty), we lost 5-2. BUT we had the bases loaded with no outs in the bottom of the ninth. We should have won. It was not good. These Cardinals are soooo frustrating. I have tried like crazy to respect Albert Pujols, since he’s such a strong Christian and excellent player. But I’m sorry. It’s time for a little rant here.
It all started last year when he hit a ball into Chris Young’s face. CY has never been the same. Sure, Albert was very shaken up about the whole incident, and he stopped and prayed with Adrian right there on the field. That made me cry, watching the video. But then, before the inning was over, he slid into Josh Bard at the plate. Bardo was out for months. My goodness. He was pretty disturbed, I’m sure. Taking out a pitcher and his catcher in the same inning. Goodness.
Not to mention that the Cardinals are Padres killers!! Coming into the series this weekend, they had something like nine straight wins against us.
Anyways, fast forward to last weekend. The Cardinals swept us. Badly. Miserably. It was terrible!
Albert hit a ball into pitcher Edward Mujica. I’m pretty sure that Edward is OK, but come on. I said it in an entry last week: pitchers should pitch to Pujols from behind a screen for their own safety. Seriously.
Now, in this weekend series, besides losing it three games to one, Albert thought that Will Venable was out to get him. (in a whiny, sarcastic voice) “Oh, he tried to run me over!” “Oh, he tried to hit me with his left arm!”
THIS GUY IS PARNOID!!! I mean, really? Will Venable, rookie, out to get Albert Pujols, almighty veteran and St. Louis legend? I don’t think so. I don’t think Will is that stupid.
It clearly shows on the replays that Will did not try to bump Albert with his left arm. The benches cleared over this, but thankfully no punches were thrown, just a little shoving. Will hit a little bouncer down the first base line, and Pujols picked it up and tagged Will as he was going down the line. Will did move his shoulder, but only to try to avoid the tag. For some reason, Pujols took offense to Will’s elbow and stared at him. Will turned around and yelled, “What? What?” Will was not trying to bump into Pujols. That much is obvious.
So why on earth is Pujols so upset about it? You would think that a professional ballplayer like him would just let it go. Will did. He guranteed that neither of them cared about it anymore. He said that there are no hard feeling between them. Oh really? I wonder if he talked to Pujols about this, ’cause here is what Albert had to say:
“Next time, maybe I’ll try to hit him in the face with my glove,”
Yikes. Seems to me that someone needs to forgive and forget here. Pujols is clearly in the wrong. I don’t get why he’s holding onto this that tightly. It just doesn’t seem right.
Will seems to be over it, but he’d better watch out next season: he might get a glove in his face.
I’ve tried to like Pujols, but I just can’t. I’m sorry.
Well, the Padres actually had some good news this weekend!!
The Padres signed David Eckstein to a contract extention for 2010. I can’t say enough about how amazing this guy has been for us. He’s an outstanding ballplayer. If there’s something that needs to be done in a game, he’ll do it. Walk-off homer, sac-bunt, walk, move the runners over, you name it, he’ll do it. It is so great that all these kids get to watch a guy like him play. He’s the grittiest ballplayer I’ve ever seen, and I think it’s excellent that he’s going to be staying next year. Congrats, Eck!!
Well, the Padres have an off-day today before playing the Braves for three in Atlanta. I just hope we can win some games, now that we’re done with the Cardinals. Man, we only have like a month left of baseball!!
Well, have a great day everyone!!
GO PADRES!!!
Night of the Hundley
What a great game!! After losing their ninth straight game to the Cardinals on Thursday night, the Padres and their fans needed a win. The ball was placed in Clayton Richard’s hands.
(If any of you are wondering why I did not blog yesterday, I was sleeping in ’til 11. Plus, I didn’t really want to blog about that sick loss the other night. Summer’s ending too soon!! Even though I slept until 11 again this morning, I just had to blog about the amazing game last night!!)
First off, it was Fellowship Night, so church groups could come out for a discounted price. Church groups can go anytime, of course, but this is a special night. After the game, some of the players give their testamonies, and it’s good stuff. I should have been there last night, but our church didn’t get out to it this year. It made me pretty depressed, knowing that I could have been there. Oh well. Hopefully there will be more opportunities for me to go to a game this year.
Now, Clayton Richard. This guy came over in the Jake Peavy deal almost a month ago, and he’s been great. His last outing (against the Cardinals actually) was not the greatest, but he got a no-decision. This time, he was excellent. How’s six innings, five hits, NO RUNS, three walks, and six strikeouts? Pretty good. Then when you get the Padres bullpen in there…wow.
In the second inning, Will Venable doubled and Kyle Blanks singled. Nick Hundley came to the plate. He quickly went down 0-2, but came back to a full count. On the eighth pitch of the at-bat, he hit a bomb to left field for a three-run homer. Oh man, I LOVE three-run homers!! So cool.
Nick…I love Nick!! He’s a great person, and he’s becoming a very good player. I love catchers, and Nick is a great one. He’s still young, and he’s still learning, but I think he’s a fixture in the Padres’ future. Great game Nick!!
The Padres didn’t score again until the eighth, but then again, the Cardinals didn’t score at all! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Anyways, with runners on third and second, Kouz lined a single up the middle. T.Gywnn scored easily, but Eck got easily caught by the gun of Rick Ankiel. Wow.
Luke Gregerson threw a great inning. Mike Adams struck out the side in his. Heath Bell pitched the ninth, even though it was not a save situation with our 4-0 lead. Which became our 4-0 win when Heath was done.
YAY!!!
What a great game. Will Venable made some excellent plays. Nick Hundley had an unassisted double play, almost a triple play.
So now we have tied up the series at one. My boys need to get at least one more in this series…hmmm…hey, how about tonight!!
Speaking of tonight, our own Hyun Young is going to have the night of her life. Yes, she’s going to the game tonight. She just found out yesterday. Let’s just say that it has something to do with the Ecksteins. I’ll let her tell the story on her blog after the game, but she’s going to have a great, great time. I AM SOOOOOO HAPPY FOR HER!!!!
Speaking of going to a game, I’m getting that itch to be out at the ballpark. It’s been just over a month since I went with Hyun Young and Jen and Kylie, and I really want to get out there again. I’m hoping to get in at least one more game this year. If for no other reason, I think I should go to one for my birthday. That’s a good reason, yes? I guess I’ll just have to see.
Okey dokey. Kevin Correia is pitching tonight against Chris Carpenter. That might be a huge pitching duel if K.Cor can throw strikes. Well, C.Carp, too, but he’s 13-3 and K.Cor is 8-9. Hmmmm. It will be a very interesting game, but the Padres have an advantage: Hyun Young is going to be in the stands!!
GO PADRES!!! WIN!!!!
Back to Business
What is up with Albert Pujols? I mean seriously, besides being a figurative Padres killer, he really is a Padres killer!! Why do his hits always find themselves hitting the Padres pitcher? Why is he taking out our players like crazy? What did they ever do to him?
Hey everyone, I’m back!! I missed blogging like crazy. I went the whole week without internet access, and I almost went crazy. Yep, I’m a computer addict and proud of it! Anyways, it was a great relaxing vacation, and I’m not going anywhere for at least a couple months now. I know, leaving for two weeks has not been very good for my readership. I will have to work very hard to get things back to buzzing around here.
Now, I don’t really want to talk about Pujols for this whole entry, because he’s not a Padre and I have better things to write about. But I just have to say, stop hurting our players Albert!! First, Chris Young (guy has never been the same since), Josh Bard (he’s with the Nationals now. oh boy), and now Edward Mujica. Alllbbbeeerrrrt!! That guy has actually been good for us this year!!! Just, cut it out. Please. It’s not very nice.
OK, HOW ‘BOUT THEM PADRES?? Yeah!! Can I get a “WHOOOO HOOOO”? This team has been incredible lately. I’m blaming the youth movement and Randy Ready. Thank you, Padres, for making some moves to make this team better. Like firing our fourth hitting coach in four years. Excellent move. And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but thank you for trading Jake Peavy, no matter how much it hurt. It was a great trade. It’s already making us better, while Jake is still sitting on the DL. This team is looking excellent. I can seriously see them contending next year. I really can.
So what about this youth movement? I caught scores all last week, but I’m sorry, I don’t have a lot of detail and I don’t really want to dig for it either. If you want a more detailed description (I’m not sure why you would want details from a game a week ago, though), check out Hyun Young’s entry. So, brief overviews are amazing.
Last week, we played the Brewers for three games in Milwaukee.
In the first game of the series, Adrian Gonzalez had six hits as the Padres won 13-6. We had 22 hits total! Adrian went 6-for-6 and drove in three runs. It must have been a great, great game!!
In the second game of the series, we had a four-run rally in the seventh to take a 6-5 lead. We won the game thanks to Heath Bell, who left the potential tying run on third. Kouz had three hits, Adrian had two.
In the third game, Cesar Carrillo made his major league debut and did terribly. He threw 2.1 innings and allowed eight runs. Not good. But what was good was Kouz getting five hits. Man, he’s been really hot lately! I mean, he’s always been hot, but he’s been getting hotter! Um, yeah. And, Adrian hit his 30th home run. But Trevor closed the game as we lost 12-9. Booo.
We did win our second series of the row, and we have been playing excellently. I wish I could tell you all the details, but we would be here for hours. Suffice it to day that the Padres are playing very well, and all the players are doing great. Mostly.
This weekend was not so pretty for the Padres. You have to give credit to the Cardinals. That team is AMAZING!! We got swept in three games. Not good. I’d say that the team played pretty well, but were shut down.
In the first game of the series, we had 11 hits, but the only runs we got was from a two-run homer by Kouz. Latos was not good in his start, though. We lost 9-2.
In the second game of the series, we lost 7-4. ‘Nuff said? Oh, Adrian hit his 31st homer. Yay!
The third game was terrible. There were two rain delays totalling two hours and 19 minutes. Ugh. We had a 6-5 lead going into the ninth. Adrian hit his 32nd homer of the season. Heath Bell came in to close, but he gave up the tying run, and then a walk-off two-run homer.
But Heath has been so amazing this season. That was only his second blown save!! It’s too bad that we got swept, but like I said, the Cards were amazing. They’ve gotta win the Central. They are gooood.
OK, so the Padres are coming home for seven games. Three against the Cubs, then four against the Cards. Oh boy, not them again!! Just keep Pujols away from the pitchers. They need a screen when they pitch against him. Goodness.
But first things first. The Cubs. Hmmm. Let’s look at our pitchers this week: Kevin Correia, Cesar Carrillo, and Mat Latos. All three had rough outings last time out. All three had better pitch very well in the next three games. Hopefully we will hit well at home. Hopefully there will be big crowds to cheer on our boys (don’t know about that…the Chargers are back). Hopefully we will get some WINS!!
It’s great to be back, everyone.
GO PADRES!!!
Summer
Today felt like a summer day in San Diego. It’ s about 80 degrees outside, but with a bit of a breeze. The air is so clear and clean, it’s just a beautiful day. A day like this got me thinking about summer, as baseball is coming up.
I love summer, but I hate the heat. I mean, summer is all about heat, but I don’t like it boiling hot, just warm. In fact, I would rather freeze than boil to death. But anyways, though I don’t like summer because of the heat, I do love summertime. I love the smell of barbeques, eating hamburgers that aren’t like the ones at a fast food place but so much better. I love it being light later, like when the sun goes down around 7:30 pm. What I love about San Diego weather is that no matter how hot it is during the day, it will always cool down at night. Today is 80 degrees, but it’s going to be very cold tonight. If I go outside, I’m going to need a jacket. I love that about San Diego.
But the best thing about summer is baseball. To me, the perfect summer evening is eating grilled hamburgers and sweet watermelon or fresh strawberries, settling down as the day cools off, and listening to some Padres baseball on the radio. Just relaxing and listening to the voices of Jerry Coleman, Ted Leitner, and Andy Masur, as they call all the action from Petco Park. That’s what my summer evenings have been like for the last two years. I remember a long time ago, way before I became a Padres fan, my parents would have the game on during summer evenings. That will always be a part of some of my earliest memories of summer. It’s a wonderful season, it really is.
Our summer last year was pretty mild. We got the worst of it in September, I think. It really wasn’t that hot. Though I don’t like the heat, summer = baseball. You have got to love that.
Now, I guess I should mention football. I threw around the old pigskin with a bunch of friends earlier. We were out in the 80 degree heat, but it was lot of fun. Usually I’m not one to play with the football, since I’m still on my football hate thing right now, but today I gave in and it was really fun. I hate big, hard balls, though. We were actually throwing around three different balls, and my favorite was the tiny one that was slightly deflating. Anyways, on one throw to me the biggest, hardest ball came up and hit me pretty badly in the finger. It is not broken, but it hurts. I am not quite sure why I mentioned that, maybe because it has something to do with sports and it’s bugging me right now.
I guess I should also mention something about the Super Bowl. I will not be watching it, but I will be keeping track of the score. I think I am going for the Cardinals. I just kind of decided that this morning. I think Pittsburgh will win, but they knocked off the Chargers, plus all my friends are going for Arizona. I know, bad way to choose your team, but it makes sense. So, go Cardinals!
Oh yeah, in Mark’s latest J-Blog School, he said that contractions should be spelled out. While that’s a great tip for journalism, I don’t think I can handle eliminating them on my blog. Contractions make my blog more personal and casual, and that’s what I want my blog to be. So, if it starts bugging anyone, I apologize in advance. I don’t want my blog to be perfect and stiff. I want it to be personal. I want it to sound like I’m a human and not a robot. When I get into a professional writing career, that tip will be most helpful. Thanks, Mark!
Greenie Traded to Cardinals
The Padres have made a move. It was reported on padres.com this morning that shortstop Khalil Greene has been traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for two relievers. I really hope they are very good relievers. If we can’t get Trevor locked up, we will need more solid guys in the back of the bullpen.
I am kind of sad about this trade. I’ve loved having Khalil here. Yeah, he’s quiet, unemotional and gloomy, but we love him here. He’s a stellar shortstop. Some of his plays will be forever lodged in the Padres highlights reel. Man, 2007 was his incredible year. He was so solid, and he was a key piece in getting us to game 163. This year he was horrible, no doubt about it. Nothing was clicking. But we got to see a lot more emotion from him than we ever had. I was so disappointed when he punched that storage bin. But it figures. It was right after his 100th strikeout of the season. I will miss him.
So now we are shortstop-less. We have Luis Rodriguez, but his first position is second base. Now that we are rid of Khalil’s $6.5 million, it might give us a chance to keep Jake. But then again, the Padres might want to get a shortstop in a Peavy deal. Maybe they will go back to the Braves. I am very excited about the other side of the deal, our two relievers. Like I said, if Trev goes and Heath Bell moves to the closing role, we will need more bullpen depth. I hope they are respectable major-league ready pitchers. I don’t want guys who I have never heard of. But hey, if they can pitch and help us, bring them on.
Unfinished Business 