Tagged: matt kemp
Crisis Averted: PADRES WIN!
We finally did it! We got our first win of the season!
And not just by some wimpy walks with the bases loaded. No, today we were strong. We brought out our bats for real and sent those Dodgers out of town with a loss on their record. Just one, but it was enough.
Starting pitcher Clayton Richard was phenomenal. He was dealing. He threw seven innings, allowing only two hits and no earned runs (two unearned though) with no walks and three strikeouts. He deserved the win.
On the offensive side, we had 12 hits. 12! We needed that breakout after the miserable three games before it.
In the bottom of the first, we got our first lead of the season by Jesus Guzman’s single. Then Yonder Alonzo hit a sacrifice fly. It was remarkable. Your San Diego Padres had a 2-0 lead.
Things stayed pretty chill until the bottom of the third, when John Baker hit a single that score Guzman. We now had THREE runs to our name.
Then in the bottom of the fourth, Andy Parrino hit a bomb to left-center. It was massive. That gave us a 4-0 lead, and we were pretty happy. Unfortunately, we left the bases loaded in that inning.
In the top of the sixth, Matt Kemp hit a two-run homer. Boooooooo.
The bottom of the eighth was the best though. We led off the inning with three straight singles, and then Chase Headley came up to the plate. He took a swinging strike, and then sent that thing out of the ballpark. Grand slam, 100 percent. He knew it and everyone in the stadium knew it. It was gone.
So that gave us an 8-4 lead. It was truly amazing. That was Chase’s first hit of the season and he couldn’t have picked a better time to do it.
In the top of the ninth, Andre Either did hit a two-run home run, so if we hadn’t gotten that grand slam, we would have been in trouble. But thankfully, we did get it and we got the win.
It’s obviously not ideal, only winning one out of four games. But let me tell you, it’s a huge relief. We needed that win so badly and I’m so thankful that we finally got it.
GO PADRES!
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No Fireworks
Tonight, the Padres presented Star Wars-themed fireworks after the game. But during the game, there were no fireworks. The Padres were more bland than tofu tonight.
We had a whooping total of three hits in the entire game.
But the defense was not bland. Instead, it was a little more spicy than any of us could handle.
OK, the bland vs. spicy comparison doesn’t really work when describing the defense. It was more like, the defense was so terrible that I was ready to jump off the Toyota Terrace.
Cory Luebke started off the game with a three-pitch strikeout, but things didn’t go so peachy for the rest of the game. Not even for the rest of the inning, for that matter. He ended up allowing a two-run double to get the team into a hole early, not that we would have been able to come back from anything.
Chad Billingsley, starting for the Dodgers, was brilliant. He made it all the way to the 9th inning, hit 100 pitches and got taken out of the game to very loud booing from the Padres fans. We did not appreciate what he did to us.
It was the top of the third that was the worst half inning ever. With one out, Mark Ellis doubled, Matt Kemp hit a grounder to third that should have been routine for Chase Headley, but instead he decided to throw it funny and Alonzo had issues with it at first. He went to try to get the out at home and threw that away too. Nice. Then while the next batter was at the plate, Cory threw the ball into center field. I think he was trying to catch the runner on second. Juan Rivera then hit a pop fly to right field, where three guys decided to go for the ball. All three of them missed it, of course.
It was the most miserable inning. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It was one thing after another. I thought I was watching a Little League game. Believe me, I remember my little brother’s games where the ball would not stop being throwed in the wrong direction. I mean, over the past few years, our defense has been the one thing that’s been more than okay. If we don’t have our pitching, offense and now defense, what do we have?
We only were given two errors, but we deserved at least six. That’s five errors in the first two games of the season. Ugh.
Luebke left after 4.2 innings with six runs and nine hits tagged onto him. But not all of them were his fault. His defense was not behind him today.
Micah Owings came in in relief and had an impressive outing. He went 3.1 innings and only allowed one hit and one walk. Andrew Cashner also threw a scoreless inning.
It was a really bad 6-0 loss. I was not happy with our boys. At all.
At least the fireworks were cool.
GO PADRES!
Check out my Storify story about this game – http://storify.com/kaitybergquist/padres-lose-again
Follow me on Twitter – @kaitybergquist
Follow my friend Colleen’s Padres blog – http://colleen.mlblogs.com/
Unfinished Business 