Tagged: first place
Hanging On!!!
I TOLD YOU THIS WAS GOING TO BE CRAZY!!!!!!
Seriously, last night’s game was a nightmare. I could not believe it. I was madder than I’ve been all year. I’m glad that you all couldn’t hear me, ’cause it was pretty ugly. I’ve never screamed at my computer so much in my life.
I’m not very happy with Mat Latos right now. I mean, goodness, he picked a great time of the season to suddenly have this huge meltdown. We NEED him right now. We need him to be that dominating CY Young candidate he was a few weeks ago.
Well anyways, I was like, this is absolutely ridiculous. It’s 8-2 in the bottom of the second. I was soooo upset, but man, we still had seven whole innings left. Unfortunately, the pitching totally imploded and the final score was 14-4. We didn’t even have a chance.
So there’s another problem: the pitching. It’s been incredibly dominant all season and we CANNOT LOSE IT NOW. If we don’t have our solid bullpen, we’re done. There’s no way we can win without our pitching.
We wouldn’t be where we are today if we didn’t have the kind of pitching we had all year. But now I’m really worried. Of course, we take things one game at a time, and today’s game is really worrying me. We’ve got Chris Young starting, right? He hasn’t pitched in the majors since April, and he’s coming off of a pretty major injury. I don’t think he’ll be able to go more than five innings, maybe 80-90 pitches. Even if he was pitching incredibly, I don’t think the pitching staff would risk him getting injured again.
So say he comes out in the fifth. That leaves four full innings that the bullpen has to take care of. Last night we used Latos, Correia, LeBlanc, and Mujica, so the rest of the guys should be well rested, but still. We absolutely need to win this game today, and those guys are going to have to hold it together.
Though last night’s game was a huge blow to the team and to the fans, we really got of easy. It was absolutely amazing to look at the standings this morning and to see that we still only .5 games behind. What a relief!! We are totally still in this thing, and though it’s been crazy, I think we’re still going to win the West.
HUGE thanks to Randy Wolf of the Brewers. I don’t know what we would have done without him. He threw an incredible game against the Giants last night: nine innings, three hits, no runs, six strikeouts. Wow. Thank you thank you thank you Randy!!!!
Guys, we need this game. I just cannot emphasize how much we need to win this game. We need to get back in first place where we belong. I know you can do it. My goodness, you’ve been proving it to us all year. Get out there, get some big hits, and win. Simple as that.
I love you guys so much.
GO SHOULD BE IN FIRST-PLACE PADRES!!!
Not Giving Up
Well, here we are again. Forced to share first place with the Giants. It’s not pleasant, but I guess if we have to endure it for a day, then there’s not much we can do about it.
Not only that, but the Rockies, who we are playing tonight, have come out of nowhere and are now only 1.5 games behind!! No one said this would be easy, I guess.
I don’t know about you, but I’d much, much rather have a very safe lead than a very unsafe lead. Maybe some of you like all this crazy drama stuff, but this is too nerve-wracking for me. I guess it does make things interesting.
What a bizarre situation we’ve gotten ourselves into! Our biggest rivals for most of the season come into our house and take three out of four, tying themselves with us for first place. Then, the day after, we go to Colorado who is right behind us at 1.5 games!!! It’s just way too crazy. Just saying, we’d better get out of this ASAP.
Even though this situation is ridiculously crazy, I am not giving up on my boys. They dug this hole for themselves and they’re the ones who are going to get out of it, but I’m going to be there to support them all along the way. They’re scaring me like crazy, but I’m sticking with them.
I believe that we’ll be able to get out of this little jam. I’m not exactly sure how, but I think they’ll be able to do. We’ve come so far. We can’t give up now.
Needless to say, tonight is a MUST WIN GAME. The Giants are idle, and the Rockies must be beaten. The San Diego First-Place Padres need a win.
Guys, please. Pitching, hold down their hitters. Hitters, for goodness sakes, find your bats already. Defense, you know what you need to do. Let’s get back together and get a win. We need it!!!
GO FIRST-PLACE PADRES!!!!!!
FIRST PLACE IS OURS!!!!
I hate sharing first place. The past two days stunk because the Giants beat us twice and moved into first place with us. First place is a very narrow space and there’s only room for one team (the San Diego Padres) so when any other team forces themselves into there, it’s cramped and gross and we don’t like it. Today, we shoved them out of there and got OUR first-place back. So there.
MY PADRES ARE AMAZING!!!!! I don’t know about you, but I am so catching the playoff fever. We are merely a few games away from the end of the regular season and after that, we’re going to the playoffs. Oh my goodness we are going to the playoffs.
The ten-game losing steak stunk and so did losing these first two games to the Giants. But you know what, we’ve gotta forget those games. All that matters is the sweep of the Dodgers and the win today (and tomorrow). You’ve gotta forget those losses or you’re just going to lose more games.
Especially now, we have to focus on beating these Giants.
Today we did that. Oh my goodness it was such a great game! Tim Stauffer pitched INCREDIBLY. Going into this game, I was kind of like, eh, he’ll probably do okay, but he totally went way above that. He threw six innings, only allowing three hits and no runs with five strikeouts. So good.
Then Yorvit Torrealba hit a solo homer in the third. Thanks to the pitching, that one run held the entire time. The dynamic trio of Luke Gregerson, Mike Adams, and Heath Bell were amazing. None of them allowed a hit. They stuck out five. They held that lead.
The ninth was soo cool. After getting one out, Heath hit a batter. Always gotta keep it interesting. But he quickly got two outs on the next batter. On the third pitch of the at-bat, the runner took off and the batter swung through the pitch. Yorvit threw the ball to second and got the runner out!!! It was so exciting because of course we were thinking double play in that situation but we didn’t really expect it to happen that way!
Oh man I am so pumped right now. This team is just so amazing and I seriously think they’re going to win this. They’ve got it. We’re only leading by one game but I think that on October 3rd, we’re going to be National League West Champions.
Also, I have a really good feeling about the game tomorrow, which may or may not have been helped by the amazing advertisement in the Sports section of the Union-Tribune today. I seriously think this is going to be one of the biggest games of the year! I mean, come on, how much better does it get than Mat Latos vs. Tim Lincecum?
I am super happy about the attendance at Petco today as well. There were over 41,000 people today, and even over the radio, I could tell that they were into every single pitch. My goodness, just to hear you guys out there got me so pumped up right here in my living room. The energy out there was just amazing!
I am so so so excited about this team right now. We are amazing!! I am so proud to be a Padres fan!!! ♥
Latos, go get ’em.
GO FIRST-PLACE PADRES!!! FIRST-PLACE IS OURS!!!!
(and GO CHRIS YOUNG!!!)
Take That!
Last night’s game was sooo amazing!! Super intense, but thanks to our pitching, we were able to win the game 3-2.
First of all, I love love love that we made Jonathan Sanchez eat his words. He was okay, but left the game in the sixth with three runs given up. Eat up, buddy.
This game was really crazy because we got caught in quite a few rundowns, we played the game under protest, and there were some extremely intense and scary plays. Heart-attack types. But through the whole thing, it was pitching, pitching, pitching.
We got that 3-2 in the sixth, so for the next 3 1/2 innings, we had to hold that lead. It was soo intense. I had complete confidence in the bullpen, but there’s always that risk factor. We were only leading by one run. One swing of the bat, and that could be gone. So it was tense. But the combination of Gregerson, Adams, and Bell took care of it.
Crazy, crazy game, but I am just soooo happy that we won!! It feels so good to see that 3.5 game lead and to know that no matter what happens in the next two games, we will leave San Francisco with our first-place lead. Man I love these boys!
Right now we’re playing the second game of the series. We’re leading 1-0 in the top of the third and Mat Latos is looking great. I have a feeling that this one’s going to be a good one.
Talk about execution. Miguel Tejada just took the first pitch he saw and doubled. Then Adrian took the first pitch he saw and flew out, but that moved Miggy to third. Oh. And then Ryan Ludwick took the first pitch he saw and got Miggy doubled up. Oh well.
Anyways, I’m really really really missing Kouz today. I woke up this morning really missing him. I wish I could sit down and talk to him sometime. He means so much to me and I miss him like crazy!! Sigh. Love you Kouz.
Well, hopefully we can get this game to get the series.
GO FIRST-PLACE PADRES!!
Solid Baseball
Today’s game was sooo good! It was just what we needed: a win!
I can’t say enough about Mat Latos. This kid is a stud. He’s doing amazing things for this organization right now, and I know he’s only going to get better. I can’t wait to see him pitch in the upcoming years. I can honestly say that he is becoming our next Jake Peavy.
Today he threw seven innings of shutout ball. He only allowed five hits while striking out eight. Plus, he went 2-for-3 with his first major league homer. We needed a solid outing, and you can’t ask for much more than that. Amazing outing by Matty.
We had some great offense today. We hit four home runs: Mat, Chris Denorfia, Chase Headley, and Jerry Hairston. Yorvit Torrealba also drove in a run.
Luke Gregerson has been struggling his last few outings, so I’m really glad that he’s going to get a break next week. Today he gave up the only run the Nationals got, but it was okay since we were up by a lot. Still, I’m a little worried about him right now. Hopefully he’ll be able to have a nice relaxing break and will be ready to get back into things after the break.
It was a really great game. I was so happy that we were able to get the third game of the series at least. We’re okay. Still have a substantial lead in the NL West, one more series till the break, we’re good.
So, how are we doing going into the All-Star break? I’d say we’re doing excellent. I know that we’re a ton better than a lot of people thought we would be by now. I didn’t know where we were going to be by the second half of the season. I honestly had no idea. I was content to take it one game at a time and see where we went. And here we are, top of the NL West.
The big question is, are we going to be able to continue this through a whole second half? Is our pitching strong enough? Will our bats stay hot? We’ve been relatively injury-free so far. Will that continue? Will we been as good as we are now?
In my mind, I have no doubt that we will sustain our first-place lead. I don’t see any reason at all for us to suddenly go bad in the second half. We can do this. I think this team is going to do great things. There’s been an atmosphere around this team that I have never felt before. It’s exciting, not knowing what this team is going to do. They’ve played well above expectations this year, and I think it will continue.
Rockies and Jorge De La Rosa tomorrow. But we’ve got Kevin Correia going for us. No sweat.
GO FIRST-PLACE PADRES!!
Nothing Can Stop Us
This series against the Mariners was so cool! Mostly because we swept them. But there were so many parts of this series that were so encouraging to see. How did we win all three games? How did this team work together to get the job done? That’s what I’m going to talk about today.
In the first game of the series, it was all about the pitching. Clayton Richard started and boy did he throw a great game. He went six solid innings, only allowing five hits and four walks while striking out five. He then transfered the game to the bullpen 1-2-3 punch of Luke Gregerson, Mike Adams and Heath Bell. Also known as GAB. Heath allowed a walk and a hit, just to make things a little interesting, but he was able to close the game to get his 20th save of the year. Will Venable and Oscar Salazar gave us all the offense we needed: Will with a two-run homer, and Oscar with a run-driving-in single.
San Diego’s pitching is the bomb.
So we won that first game of the series 3-0. In the second game of the series, Jon Garland went up against ace Josh Johnson. Both are very, very solid pitchers, but who do you think would triumph? The Padres, of course. No ace, not even guys with 13-1 records and 1.60 ERAs, can stop my Padres.
Okay, to be honest, Johnson was a tough pitcher. But we still came up on top, and that’s the thing that really matters.
Garland went 6.2, only allowing one run on four hits. Johnson went eight innings, allowing two runs on five hits. Not bad at all, but it was all the Padres needed. Add a little bullpen of, you guessed it, Gregerson, Adams, and Bell, and we’ve got another Padres win. Score of 2-1. Adrian Gonzalez drove in one and Garland drove in the other. Simple as that.
We hadn’t had a sweep in a while. So we decided to go for it. Mat Latos started and was amazing. He went 5.2 innings, allowing one run on five hits. Then Ryan Webb came in and gave up a run, which wasn’t a good thing.
In the top of the first, Chase Headley singled in David Eckstein. Then Will Venable sac-flied one in.
But Will wasn’t having that great of a game. He dropped two foul balls and a fly ball. But on the other hand, he did drive in three runs, and I’d say, he won the game for us.
With the game tied at two in the top of the eighth, Will hit a two-run bomb to take the lead. Heath Bell was out of service, so Luke Gregerson came in and got the save. Thank goodness. I mean, Heath’s a great pitcher and all, but he is so stressing! I really appriciate closers who have three up, three down innings.
It was a great game. A great series! But one thing that I’d really like to point out is how we were able to win these games without much help from Adrian Gonzalez. Contrary to popular belief, I think that Adrian is not carrying our offense. I think we’ve got a solid group of guys that can win with or without Adrian Gonzalez. All Adrian did yesterday was score a run. He didn’t provide any offense, and yet, we somehow won! Amazing.
This team is so solid that they can win no matter what. If Adrian went down with an injury, I would not be worried at all. I believe that this team would still win consistently. They really aren’t getting the credit they deserve. They are the first-place team in the NL West for goodness sakes!! When are you going to be able to get that in your head? This is seriously legit. They’ve got this in their hands and they’re not going to let it go. This boys are so for real it’s not even funny.
Tonight we get to face the most solid pitcher in the majors. Blah blah blah. I’m not putting down Ublado Jimenez’s accomplishments. I mean, 13-1 and 1.60 are pretty impressive numbers. But I can’t wait for my Padres to make that 13-2. No problemo.
Kevin Correia can do it. Adrian Gonzalez and his offense can do it. GAB can do it. The San Diego Padres can do it. They can beat this guy as the best team in the National League.
GO FIRST-PLACE PADRES!!!
NL West Leaders!
My boys are AMAZING!! I am so happy that we’re keeping our own in interleague here. Last year, two years ago, we probably wouldn’t have won a series yet against any American League team, but we’re only 7-5 so I think we’re on the right track.
The Orioles are really not that great of a team this year, so I don’t see why we even lost the second game of the series. But the most important thing was that we won the other two. To prove my point, the Orioles are 23.5 games behind in their division. Um yeah.
Friday night’s game was sooo amazing!! We were tied at 1 for a while, then we got a 2-1 lead, then Heath Bell blew the save, and then we got a walk-off single from Adrian in the bottom of the ninth. I love those games. So sweet!
Then we lost on Saturday.
But we won again on Sunday! Jon Garland started the game by giving up four runs in the top of the first. Jon Steven Garland, that is not the way to start a game. I’m ashamed of you.
I’m sorry to say that I haven’t been that impressed with Garland this season. I think he’s one of the top paid players on this team, which says a lot ($10 million haha). He’s definitely done some good for this team, but he’s definitely not what I expected. I guess I expected him to be an ace who went seven innings each outing without allowing any runs and very few hits. He’s had a few outings like that, but not many. I guess we’ll just have to see, but I haven’t been entirely impressed with him at all.
He did end up going six innings, only allowing those four runs.
The offense really came out yesterday. Adrian hit three doubles. Nick Hundley, Scott Hairston, and Will Venable each had two hits. Nick hit a two-run homer and Will hit a three-runner. I was so happy when I found out that we had come back from that 4-1 deficit to take a 6-4 lead, which we eventually extended to 9-4.
Lancey-boy started at third, but he did not get a hit, only a walk. His average is now .200. Pick it up!!
The bullpen was solid as usual. Luke Gregerson, Mike Adams, and Joe Thatcher were the men of the day out there.
We’re playing really well right now. Well, maybe not really well, but we’re getting by. We’ve still got our first-place lead by 1.5 games over the Giants. The Dodgers are now two games back.
There’s a poll right now on mlb.com that asks which team will win the NL West. The highest votes are for the Dodgers with 39%. But the Padres come in second with 22%. I am glad that the Padres are up there, but anyone who’s been watching the NL West for any amount of time this season should obviously be voting for the Padres. The Dodgers have barely spend any time up top and when they did, they couldn’t hold onto it. My Padres are just too good. NL West Champions all the way, baby.
My boys have an off-day/travel day today as they go to Tampa Bay. Let me tell you, this is going to be a really interesting series. Hopefully my Padres come out on top.
GO FIRST-PLACE PADRES!!!
Back To The Giants
I am sooo bummed about this weekend. Not even funny. It’s pretty sad that we lost three games in a row, but against the Dodgers too? Argh.
It was a horrible series!!! The only positive I think of is like, Wade LeBlanc yesterday. He only allowed one run in seven innings. It was a great outing. But we lost the game 1-0. The night before we lost the game 4-1. The day before that was 4-3. It was an awful awful awful series.
I wouldn’t say that it was all the pitching’s fault. Maybe on Friday it was. But Kevin Correia was amazing on Saturday. Sure, he allowed four runs, but his offense wasn’t there for him. That game was unbelievable. As I sat there and watched Gameday, there was a feeling just totally overwhelming me that there was no possible way that we could come close to winning that game. It was the worst feeling ever. I tried keeping the faith, but the offense was giving me nothing. It was unbelievable.
After that amazing sweep of the Giants and that amazing outing by Mat Latos on Wednesday, I think we expected a lot more from this team. I have no idea what could have possibly happened in a matter of hours, but the team that came out there on Friday night was not the same team we saw a few days before. It was crazy.
Did you know that we had never lost three games in a row all season before yesterday? We’ve been amazing. The Dodgers have been not so amazing. Why were our roles reversed this weekend? It just doesn’t make any sense.
We are still hanging on by a thread to our first place lead, half a game. If we hadn’t swept the Giants earlier in the week, we would have lost that lead. I’m thankful that we still have it, but we’re walking on very precarious ground. We’ve got to get right back on our horse now. And guess what, we’ve got perfect timing here: we’re playing the Giants for two games here at Petco.
We were able to beat them at ATT&T, so we’ll be able to beat them at home…right? Right?
Gameplan: forget about the Dodgers series like, right now. Erase it from the memory. Focus on beating the Giants. Be thankful that we’re not facing Timmy, but hope that the Giants are scared that they have to face Mat Latos again. Let’s get this.
Come on, boys. I know you’re better than this.
GO FIRST-PLACE PADRES!!!
Unfinished Business 