Tagged: jerry hairston jr
Rubber Game Today…
Last night’s game was great! After the loss on Tuesday, it was great to get the win against the Dodgers last night.
I really appriciated Clayton Richard’s performance. He went through a rough spot a while back, and it’s good to have him actually throwing well. Last night he went six innings, only allowing one run on four hits with six strikeouts. As usual, the bullpen was just beautiful. Old story there, but really, these guys are just too good.
Ernesto Frieri has been a very pleasant surprise. When he first was called up, I thought he was going to be one of those guys who was up here only because we needed him but actually wasn’t that great of a pitcher. Thankfully, I was wrong. Since he got called up, he’s been in fiave games, allowing only one hit with nine strikeouts. He’s got a perfect ERA of 0.00.
The offensive side was great too. We didn’t start scoring until the sixth, actually. Jerry Hairston Jr. was the man of the night with two hits and three RBIs. We got two runs in the sixth, two in the seventh, and two in the eighth. Chris Denorfia, Adrian Gonzalez, and Nick Hundley each drove in a run.
And….that’s about it. Oh, really bad news about Kyle Blanks. He’s going to have to have Tommy John surgery. We really did have big hopes for him at the beginning of the season, but he didn’t play well and now he’s hurt. Get well soon Blanksie!!
One more game in this series this afternoon, which I’m really excited about. We’ve got the Giants breathing down our necks, so we really need to get this game to win the series and to hold onto our first-place lead. I like our chances with Mr. Mat Latos starting the game. I have a feeling that this is going to be a great game.
GO FIRST-PLACE PADRES!!!
Moving On…
What a sad series. You know, the series at home vs. the Diamondbacks was great because of the sweep. And one amazing things about this team this year is that they have winning records both at home and on the road. That’s rare. But it seems like we do better at home anyways.
So this series against the Braves was not good. But one series does not a season make. We just need to put this one behind us and concentrate on the next series against the Pirates.
But first, a few comments, questions, and concerns.
Buddy Black got a three-year contract extension this week, which I am absolutely thrilled about. Buddy’s been our manager since 2007, and he’s done an amazing job. Sure, we haven’t won a championship…yet…but I think that was more the front office’s fault than Buddy’s. I’ve always been amazed at what Buddy could do with whatever he had. Especially in ’08, he had a team that wasn’t really a team, but he took what he had and did the best he could with it. I especially love the way he’s been able to work with the pitching staff. As a former pitcher and pitching coach, he’s got the perfect experience to work with our pitching staff. There’s a reason that this pitching staff is the #1 staff in baseball right now.
Congrats, Buddy. This is well deserved.
Now in some very sad news, David Eckstein has been put on the 15-day DL with a calf strain. You can’t even imagine how bad this is for the club. Eck doesn’t get that much recognition for what he does for this team, but he is going to be sorely missed.
I’ve been saying that the only thing that could possibly kill our second half would be injuries. We’ve got the pieces to win the NL West (the pitching, the hitting, the defense), so there’s no problem there. But the only thing that could get in the way would be injuries.
But the good thing about this team is that no matter who goes down, we’ve been able to keep winning. This team is not dependant on one player. We are a team. So far we’ve been able to survive without Chris Young, Everth Cabrera, Will Venable, Kyle Blanks, and Mike Adams. But I honestly don’t know if we’ll be able to keep going without David Eckstein.
I mean, already we’re 1-2 without him. The numbers from other times he’s been on the DL are not good. This guy is so essential to our success. Part of me is really worried that there’s no way we’ll be able to win without him. But the other part of me is saying, “Are you crazy? These are the Padres! They find ways to win no matter what!!”
Get well soon, Eck. We need you!!
I was really scared yesterday when Jerry Hairston Jr. got hit in the hand with a pitch. Thankfully, he’s okay, but that was pretty scary for a minute there. Especially with Eck out, we’re going to need Jerry in the core of the infield.
Last night’s game was a great come-from-behind-er, but today’s game was nasty. First of all, we were shutout 8-0. Ryan Webb had an awful outing, allowing four runs in the seventh. He only got two outs. It was not good. Plus, we only had four hits in the entire game and we lost the best record in the National League to the Braves. Grrr.
Not the mention Nick Hundley grounding into a double play with the bases loaded and one out. Or the fact that we were shutout.
Thankfully, we still have our first-place lead, but only by 3.5 games. Still, I shouldn’t be complaining. Overall, this team has been incredible and will continue to do so.
So this series is put behind us. Pirates up next, plus the return of Mat Latos, which, by the way, I am extremely psyched about. Pittsburgh is on the bottom of the NL Central, 19.5 games behind, so hopefully my Padres won’t have too much trouble with them.
GO FIRST-PLACE PADRES!!
Grand Slam Domination
Last night’s game was crazy amazing.
Let me start off by saying that it’s not very often that we completely dominate like this. And I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The thing that got it all started was Jerry Hairston Jr’s grand slam in the bottom of the second. That was amazing! First grand slam of the year for the Padres. The inning started off with three straight singles by Nick Hundley, Chris Denorfia, and Oscar Salazar. Jerry came up two outs later and got the ball just fair down the left field corner. It was so cool. Lately, we’ve been leaving a lot of runners on base, especially when they get there with no outs. It was really, really good that we were able to take full advantage of that situation.
In the bottom of the third, Adrian and Chase led off the inning with singles. Nick Hundley, who’s been amazingly hot lately, hit a double to drive both of those guys in.
We didn’t score in the bottom of the fourth, but we got four runs in the bottom of the fifth. Adrian and Chase led off with singles again, and then Nick Hundley walked. After that, Chris Denorfia and Oscar Salazar each walked in a run. I was so loving the Mets pitching at that moment.
After a pitching change, Luis Durango drove in his first two runs of his major league career. At the end of that inning, we were winning 10-4.
On the other side, Kevin Correia was having a fairly good game. He ended up going six innings, allowing six runs on seven hits. Not the best, but thankfully, his offense was well-ahead of him.
The bottom of the sixth was our biggest inning of the night. Adrian and Chase led off the inning again, but this time Adrian was walked and Chase got his third hit of the night. Nick Hundley singled, Denorfia doubled, and we scored two more runs. Oscar Salazar walked. Luis Durango grounded into a force out that got Nick thrown out at home. But then Will Venable singled in three. J-Hair singled, and Eck sac-flied him in. It was a great inning.
In the bottom of the seventh, Chase Headley got his fourth hit of the night with a solo homer. That brought us to 17-6. The Petco Park record for most runs scored by the Padres was 17 runs. We set that on Opening Day here. Thus, our 18th run, scored in the bottom of the eighth, set another record.
I would like to mention that Lance Zawadzki was the one who drove in that run because I think I’m finally finding a new favorite player. At the beginning of the year I decided that Scott and Jerry Hairston would be my new favorites, but that’s not really gone through. Obviously, I love all of these guys, but I think a player becomes your favorite instead of you deciding that he will be. And I do have to say, this kid is absolutely adorable. Whew.
After K-Cor left, the bullpen did great. Ryan Webb, Sean Gallagher, and Joe Thatcher held on to that lead (haha) and didn’t allow any runs.
This game was soo much fun to follow. Let’s look at some of these guys’ nights:
Jerry Hairston, leading off, had two hits, including the grand slam. Before this homestand started, Jerry had zero home runs for the season. Now he has three.
David Eckstein was the only one who didn’t get into the party. He went 0-for-4, but he did drive in a run.
Adrian Gonzalez had two hits, two walks, and scored three runs.
Chase Headley had four hits and scored four runs.
Nick Hundley had three hits, drove in two runs, and scored two. Let me tell you, he has been hot. Over the weekend he was absolutely essential to our two wins in the series against the Nationals. He hit a three-run homer on Saturday and then a walk-off single in the bottom of the 11th on Sunday. It’s great to see him heating up like this.
Chris Denorfia had three hits, drove in three runs and scored three runs. Great night for him.
Absolutely amazing 18-6 win. I enjoyed it soooo much. What a great night!!
This team is proving itself to me over and over again. I really truly believe in them. I saw something on MLB.com today that took my breath away: we’re one of the current playoff teams. If the season ended today, we would be the National League West champions. I know that we’ve still got a lot of season left, and anything could happen. But these boys have been winning consistently for a long time. We’ve held onto our first-place lead for a very long time. These guys are for real. They have my support 100%.
GO FIRST-PLACE PADRES!!
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!!
Rocky Game But A Win
Chase Headley: Baseball America High Class-A All-Star 2006. Baseball America Double-A All-Star 2007. MLB.com Double-A Offensive Player of the Year 2007. Now he’s been in the major leagues for almost two years, and that player that he was in the minor leagues is finally coming out.
We had lost the first game of the series against the Rockies on Monday, so we definitely needed this game. Wade LeBlanc started the game for us, and he was excellent. He went six innings, only allowing two runs and two walks. He was really, really good.
In the bottom of the fourth, Jerry Hairston tripled in Chase Headley, who had singled to start the inning.
The Rockies got their two runs in the top of the fifth, which was disappointing.
I’m a Padres fan, and I always try to keep the faith, because these guys have proved to me over and over again that they will fight hard to win the game no matter what. But I have to admit, things were not looking that great. We left *cringe* 11 runners on base, and were only 2-for-7 with runners in scoring position. At one point, we left the bases loaded. Kyle Blanks got thrown out at the plate. We were not getting that clutch hit, and that was a problem.
In the bottom of the eigth, Will Venable got a triple. Jerry Hairston sac-flied him in to tie the game.
Luke Gregerson threw two fantastic innings after Wade left the game. Heath Bell got the top of the ninth, and, for once, he didn’t allow a hit. He did allow a walk, though, so he’s still up to his “I have to make everything interesting” act.
In the bottom of the ninth, it was time to get this game wrapped up. Extra innings are super annoying, and besides, there’s no time like the present. You know how those extra inning-ers go: the longer the game gets, the harder the guys press to get it over and nothing happens for a really long time. Sure, those games are fun sometimes, but they should be avoided at all costs. Thankfully, we did not have to drift into the land of extra innings last night.
Lance Zawadski started off the inning with a walk. Tony Gwynn sac-bunted Lance over to second. David Eckstein, who had been caught stealing earlier in the game, flew out to left field. Adrian Gonzalez was intentionally walked, which was very expected, to try to get to Chase Headley.
Wrong move, buddy.
Chase has been in that situation a lot, and he’s really taken the most advantage of it. Hahahaha when are they ever going to learn? Chase is going to come through for us. Maybe he wouldn’t have last year, but that was then. Now, he’s going to come through and send everyone home happy…everyone except Jim Tracy, that is.
After taking a ball in the dirt, Chase sent a single out to right field that Carlos Gonzalez didn’t even bother to retrieve. Lance scored, and the Padres won the game!!
What a great game of baseball. Amazing pitching, tons of suspense, and some good offense. Unfortunately, the Padres had a lot of little blunders, but at least they were able to win the game.
Besides Chase Headley, there was another player in this game who did extremely well. I’m telling you, this might have been the best pickup of the off-season: Jerry Hairston Jr. He’s been extremely valuable, especially in the field. Absolutely amazing. Shortstop is in good hands while E-Cab’s on the DL. No worries there. Last night he had a hit and drove in two runs.
You know what I realized last night? I realized that Kyle Blanks is not a natual outfield. I think that kind of got lost in the shuffle here. The guy’s a first baseman, and he’s doing an amazing job out there. He’s got zero errors and 30 putouts. I guess I feel like his switch from infield to outfield wasn’t as publicized as Chase’s was. Anyways, keep up the great work out there, Kyle.
Chase is doing amazing, and it’s soooo good to see. We’ve really been needing a guy who can threaten pitchers enough that they don’t walk Adrian to try to get to him. It might take a while to get that into pitcher’s heads, but hopefully Chase keeps that success and really does turn into a threat behind Adrian. He certainly did the job last night.
Very well played game by my boys last night. Let’s win this series tonight!! GO CLAYTON RICHARD!!
GO FIRST PLACE PADRES!!!
Unfinished Business 