Tagged: oscar salazar
Hello Tejada and Goodbye Dodgers
Yesterday was a great day for the San Diego Padres. Not only did we win the series against the Dodgers with a walk-off, but we also aquired veteran infielder Miguel Tejada.
I just gotta talk about this trade for a bit here because I can’t believe how good it was. When I first saw that we had traded for him, I thought, great, we probably had to give up something big. Imagine my shock when I saw that all it took to get him was a Double-A pitcher named Wynn Pelzer. I think it’s a good sign when you’ve never even heard of that player. I hadn’t, so I figured that he wasn’t that essential to the Padres’ farm system.
I figured that if the Padres were going to make a move at all, it would be something slightly big but not franchise-shaking in terms of us losing something. I’d say that we got a great deal here. I’m really amazed, actually, about how good this was. I’m also really happy that the Padres were able to get right up there with lots of other big teams who wanted this guy, and we came up on top. If this was two, three years ago, we wouldn’t even try to go for this guy. He would be as impossible to get as a A-Rod for the San Diego Padres. But times are changing.
And I absolutely love what Miguel said yesterday: “Now I go into a situation where I can get a ring. It’s not easy to get a ring. It’s a lot of hard work. Now I’m going to have an opportunity.”
How cool is that!?!?!?!! I am so psyched that we would be looked at like that. Most of the time, it was the players who were leaving us who would say stuff like that. But now, players are saying that about us!! It makes me so happy 🙂
I think this was a great deal made by the Padres. Miguel will help us in the middle infield, especially with Eck out, and he’s still got a great bat. I’m really excited about having him on the team. Welcome to San Diego, Miguel.
The other great part about yesterday was beating LA. I got to watch the entire game for free, which was a huge treat. I loved being able to see my boys! It was a ton of fun to watch it.
Mat Latos started the game. He only went five innings, but he allowed two runs (one earned) while striking out seven.
In the bottom of the first, we got our first run on a Chase Headley single. Latos allowed a home run right away in the next inning, so that lead was short lived.
Then we took the lead again in the fourth. Chase Headley walk, Yorvit Torrealba double. Top fifth, Dodgers tied it again.
So we went on for a super long time without scoring. Our bullpen was great, no surprise there. Joe Thacher, Ryan Webb, Luke Gregerson. Heath Bell took the top of the ninth in a tie game.
In the bottom of the ninth, we got down to business. Scott Hairston singled, Tony Gwynn sac-bunted him over, setting up Oscar Salazar. It took eight pitches, but he finally was able to get the bat on one and sent it through the middle. Scotty scored, and we won!!
It was a great series, and I’m so happy that we won it! It’s always great to get two-out-of-three, but especially against the Dodgers. Our first-place lead is very safe and looking good as ever.
I was really pleased with the crowds we got during this series. Of course, I’m sure we were helped out a lot by Dodger fans, but that’s okay. It’s our home turf. Yesterday we had 42,000!!! Big shoutout to all the Padres fans for getting out there and supporting our boys.
I’m super excited about Padres baseball right now. We’ve got a three game series against the Marlins for the weekend, and then it’s off to Dodger Stadium for four. That’s going to be crazy!
Go first-place Padres.
GO FIRST-PLACE PADRES!!!!
We Survived!
Hooray! Interleague is over!! Low and behold, the San Diego Padres made it through without killing their season. They faltered a little, but I’d say that they more than survived: they thrived against their American League counterparts. They did something that a Padres team had not done in a very long time. They held their own and stood up to the mighty American League.
I know this doesn’t seem like a very big thing to some of you, but for us Padres fans, we know how meaningful this really is. The Padres went 9-6 in Interleague, which is a very good record. That was the best in our division. For example, the Dodgers went 3-9, which is where the Padres probably would have been if this was the team of years past. But obviously, something is different this year. I’m not sure what it is, but it’s there.
This final series against the Tampa Bay Rays of the American League East division, a very good team right now. They’re in series contention for their division. They’re right up there with the Yankees and the Red Sox. You know what my Padres did? They came in and took the first two games of the series, though they dropped the last game. But please. Two out of three against the Rays? I’ll take that any day.
A huge part of the Padres success this year has been their pitching. No doubt about it, we’ve got one of the best staffs around. On Tuesday, (future Jake Peavy) Mat Latos started the game and threw a gem. He went seven innings, allowing three hits, no runs, only walking one, but striking out eight. This guy is soooo amazing!!!
I am just so thrilled at how professional and solid these young pitchers are. Our minor league system really must been doing something right. These guys are professional major league pitchers. I know the last few years have been tough for us Padres fans, but don’t you think that time of waiting was worth getting to see this kind of pitching every day now? I mean, two years ago, all we had to look forward to was Jake Peavy pitching every fifth day. But now, we know that we have a chance to win every single day. Amazing.
Anyways, in that game, Chase Headley singled in our first run and Will Venable got hit by pitch to drive in our second one. Mike Adams had a pretty rough outing, giving up one run, but Heath Bell got a four-out save to win the game.
In the second game, Kevin Correia started and didn’t have that great of a game. He went 5.1 innings, allowing two runs on three hits with five walks. Not the best, but it’s a good thing that the offense made up for it.
Will Venable hit a two-run homer in the fifth. Adrian hit a solo homer in the sixth. In the top of the seventh, Jerry Hairston hit a bro-bi to break the 3-3 tie. Then, in the top of the ninth, Chase Headley hit a solo homer to make the game 5-3. Heath Bell allowed one run while he was trying to get the save, but thankfully he was able to close it out for the series win.
There were two outstanding defensive plays by Adrian Gonzalez and Aaron Cunningham which definitely helped us win the game. I love our defense!
The third game was kind of belch because we lost. Wade LeBlanc didn’t have a good outing. Oscar Salazar hit a two-run homer, but our pitchers gave up three homers. Adrian broke his 11-game hitting streak.
But the good news is that we did extremely well in interleague. We dominated. We are a much better team than years past. I don’t know about you, but I believe that this is a special team. Something great is going on here. I just love the fact that we are in first place and that we’ve been holding it for a very long time. I am so happy that we seem to be heading for a possible championship…but I’m getting ahead of myself. For now, we have to focus on dominating all teams that dare to confront us. We’ve got to keep this winning thing up, and I have complete confidence in my boys that they’ll be able to do that.
Do you guys think we need another bat? I’ve been thinking about this question. On one hand, the guys we have right now have been winning consistently for a long period of time. They’ve been getting by, and at some times, dominating. I love the chemistry and balance of this team right now, and I’m worried that any major change would severely disrupt that. (For example, trading away Adrian Gonzalez.) I feel like we’re doing fine right now in terms of bats, but would we be even better by adding a bat? I’m just not sure. I guess I’m so happy with this team and the way they’re playing right now that I don’t want anything to happen that would change it for the worse.
I guess I shouldn’t be worried. Things will work out. And hey, we’ve got some celebrating to do now. WE SURVIVED INTERLEAGUE!!!!
GO FIRST-PLACE PADRES!!!
Short and Simple
Yesterday, I talked about getting a winning record for August. If we won last night, we would have our first winning month of the season. Well, we were playing the Nationals, but the boys got it done. We got the win.
Tim Stauffer started for the Padres. He was pretty good when he first came up earlier in the season, but his last few starts have not been good at all. A headline on padres.com yesterday said, “Stauffer knows he needs to go at least five innings.” Hahahahaha!!! That much was obvious. The starters need to go deep into ballgames to save the bullpen.
Thankfully, things were clicking very nicely for Stauffer last night. He threw 6.2 innings, allowing one run on seven hits with three walks and five strikeouts. Very nice.
Livan Hernandez pitched for the Nationals. The Padres didn’t waste any time getting to him. In the bottom of the first, Everth got a bunt single. David Eckstein doubled him in, and just like that, the Padres had a 1-0 lead. Adrian struck out swinging, but Kouz doubled in Eck and we had two runs on the board.
The Nationals only got one run, in the top of the third. Stauffer was goooood.
Livan pitched all eight innings. Oscar Salazar was playing left field for the Padres. He made an incredible catch at the wall, but collided hard with the wall and hurt his knee. He was in terrible pain, but was able to walk off the field. Drew Macias came in to replace him.
Will Venable has been very, very good in the outfield. Last night a ball was hit down the right field line. He fielded it cleanly, then threw to second, where the runner was trying to take a second base. Will caught him easily. It was sooo cool!
In the bottom of the eighth, Chase Headley hit a pitch-hit homer, his 10th homer of the year. That got us an insurance run as Heath Bell came in to get his 32nd save of the year.
It was a great game, but very quick. It only took two hours and 13 minutes. There was a fairly good crowd of 19,867.
The Padres are playing again tonight. Clayton Richard is pitching for the Padres. I really hope he has a great outing, and we can get yet another series win.
GO PADRES!!!
Unfinished Business 