Tagged: major league baseball
Winning Padres = Happier Fans
So good to see the Padres actually playing some solid baseball this past weekend. I can stay a fan for a long time (it’s been six years, yo), but it’s always so much more fun to be a fan when the team is winning.
I’m happy. The team should be happy. Hopefully we will have a great series against the Nationals.
GO PADRES!
Oh, and you should read these blogs: Green Grass Love Affair & Nater Tater’s Friar Fritters
Losing Control
(Photo courtesy/lobshots.com)
In the first few games of this season, pitcher Andrew Cashner has been getting notice because of his pitching speed. Though hitting 100+ is impressive, it’s not when you don’t have any control. Like walking three straight batters in a tie-game situation.The Padres lost 9-8 to the Dodgers tonight in a very bizarre game where the Padres were able to come back from a deficit only to hand the win back.
For the first three innings, the Padres went 1-2-3 except for the first inning, when Cameron Maybin led off the game with a single. Other than that, Aaron Harang put down nine in a row. Just lovely.
Finally, Will Venable broke that with a leadoff home run in the top of the fourth. The Dodgers had a 4-0 lead at the point, so that was huge. We ended up getting three runs in that inning, closing the Dodgers’ lead to one run.
But then the Dodgers got four more runs in the bottom of the fourth. We didn’t score until the top of the seventh, where we got three MORE runs. So run production was not really our problem in this game. We had nine hits, while the Dodgers only had six.
What was the problem was the ninth inning. Going into the inning, we were losing 8-6. Chris Denorfia walked to start the inning, and then there were two swinging strikeouts. Got that, two outs. The Padres do not do well with two outs ever.
Except for today.
Chase Headley hit a two-run game-tying home run WITH TWO OUTS in the top of the ninth inning. Bam. 8-8 all.
So we’re feeling good, right?
Cashner comes in to pitch the bottom of the ninth. We get two quick outs. And then the trouble starts. Andrew walks three batters in a row to load the bases. Joe Thatcher replaces Andrew and throws four straight balls to walk in the winning run. What. On. Earth.
Absolutely pathetic. The bullpen LET US DOWN. That should not have happened. I mean, Joe could have had the decency to at least throw a strike, right? PATHETIC.
Not much is giving me hope for these Padres right now. Sure, it’s insanely early in the season and I’m not giving up on them yet. But this is not fun.
Thankfully, we have the Major League Debut of Joe Wieland to look forward to tomorrow. No pressure, dude. The team is just 2-6 and in desperate need of a win, no biggie.
GO PADRES!
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Joe Wieland to make Major League Debut
The story is all here in my Storify story and all over Twitter.
http://storify.com/kaitybergquist/welcome-to-the-show-pitcher-joe-wieland-to-join-pa
I always love it when guys get called up for their Major League debuts like this. Makes me think of my all-time favorite baseball movie, “The Rookie.” Gets me every time.
Of course, the reason that he’s coming up is because after only one start, Dustin Moseley is most likely out for the year. Prayers for recovery to him of course. It’s not the ideal situation that you’re coming up to replace someone who’s so badly injured, but it’s still a huge moment for Joe.
Congrats and welcome to the Padres, Joe. We’re looking forward to having you.
GO PADRES!
Hoping for a breakthrough…
Field view from Opening Day.
What are we going to do with this team??
Tonight we lost our third game in a row. Meaning that we’ve opened the season with three losses. This is miserable. We absolutely can’t hit, and our pitching is not strong enough to keep us in the game long enough to score some runs. We’ve only scored eight runs in the whole season, and five of them were tonight.
Oh, that’s good, you might be thinking. Five runs in a game is not bad. BUT what you do not realize is that we only had four hits and three of the runs came in by walk. Nothing to say for our hitting prowess, just the weakness of the opposing pitcher.
Don’t get me wrong, the comeback we had was huge. We were down 5-0 going into the bottom of the fifth, and we were able to get five runs to tie the game in that inning. Chase Headley, Jesus Guzman, and Nick Hundley got the walk-in RBIs. So that was a crazy inning.
The game stayed tied all the way until the 11th inning, when that kid Dee Gordan hit an RBI double to break the tie and put the Dodgers up 6-5. Then the bottom of the 11th was really frustrating. We got the lead runner on by walk, sacrificed him over, and then got two quick outs. Naturally, we’re able to get the potential tying run on base and then decide not to do anything about it.
On the bright side, we had no errors.
The starting pitching so far has not been very good at all. Dustin Moseley went five innings today, allowing five hits and five runs. Then a bazillion guys came in from the bullpen and did very well until the 11th.
So we’re 0-3. Against the Dodgers. In Opening Week. This is not fun.
Hopefully we will be able to at least pull of the win tomorrow. PLEASE.
GO PADRES!
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Top 100 MLBlogs of 2011: #6
Unfinished Business is the sixth most popular MLB.com fan blog for the year of 2011.
Last year I was #8, so I guess I’ve made progress this year despite being insanely busy. Actually, this was probably the lowest year yet in terms of content, and I still gained two spots.
I was busy this year, mostly with finishing high school, working on The Telescope and spending a ton of time with friends. And of course, being a fan of the Padres. We had a terrible year. It was sad. But 2012 is a new year, and maybe all these trades will actually help us out. Who knows.
I just want to say thank you to every single one of my readers, whether you read every post or one every once in a while. Padres fans really are the best fans because we have the deal with one of the worst teams in Major League Baseball. But we love them despite it all. So thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts and my rants and my love for Padres baseball.
I’ve been doing this for over three years (WOW!) and I don’t plan on stopping soon. My sixth season of Padres fandom is coming up as well. Crazy stuff.
Thank you again. You guys are amazing.
GO PADRES!
Happy New Year!
2011 is officially over, and 2012 has begun. With that comes a new beginning to the San Diego Padres season. We’ve said our goodbyes to Heath Bell, Jed Hoyer and Mat Latos, and we’ve welcomed Huston Street, Carlos Quentin, Edinson Volquez and of course, Mark Kotsay. There still might be some moves to be made, but it’s time to put the business aside and get down to the game.
We are about three months away from Opening Day.
As usual, I look ahead to the season with excitement, but also a lot of questions.
Are we going to hit? Is our rotation going to be okay? How’s the bullpen going to pan out? Will we still have Anthony Rizzo by the start of the season? And when will the Padres sign Kevin Kouzmanoff already? (He’s currently a free agent.)
Truth is, I have no idea how this team is going to look on Opening Day. I have a good idea of what players will be there, but there are a lot of new guys. I don’t know how well the team will play together or how strong of a team we’ll be.
I don’t think we’re going to do exceptionally well, but we might not do terribly either. It’s all up in the air right now. This year’s team is already looking a ton different from last year’s team.
As always, it’s going to be an adventure.
Unfinished Business 