The Padres were on a four-game losing streak, but they were coming home. They were facing a newly-off-the-DL Ted Lilly, but Kevin Correia was going out against him. This team has been so good lately, and I didn’t think the sweep in St. Louis would deter us. At least, I hoped it wouldn’t. 

I love pitching duels (mostly because it means our pitcher is doing well), so you know I really enjoyed last night’s game. Lilly and Correia were both excellent. Lilly went six innings, allowing four hits and striking out four. Correia went six innings, allowing three hits and striking out two, but walked four. In the sixth, Correia had a bases loaded situation, but barely squeezed out of it. Whew. Both pitchers were excellent.

Neither team scored until the top of the eighth. Mike Adams, of all people, allowed a triple and a single to hand the Cubs a 1-0 lead. But with this San Diego team, a one-run deficit is nothing. At least, I hoped it would be. I hate it when we lose 1-0.

Heath Bell pitched in the top of the ninth. He blew his second save of the season on Sunday, so I’m sure he begged Buddy to let him go out there last night to get back on the horse. Heath’s just like that. Thankfully, he threw a scoreless inning.

Now, to the bottom of the ninth. Rally time.

Everth Cabrera started off the inning. “COME ON, E-CAB!!” I screamed. He promptly grounded out. Grrr.

Next, Eck walked. Yay!! Leave it to Eck to get on base for his team.

Adrian flew out. Uh-oh. Two outs. We totally cannot lose 1-0!!

No worries though. Chase Headley came up and doubled in the tying run. I loved watching Eck pound it out around the bases. Wow.

We’re doing all this against the Cubs’ closer, Kevin Gregg, by the way. Kouz gets intentionally walked to get to rookie Kyle Blanks. Wrong move.

Called strike, ball, and then walk-off three-run homer. Oh yeah. You don’t mess with the big guy.

Kouz was so excited. The video is hilarious to watch. He was sooo pumped up!! 🙂

I knew we could do it. This team is just too good to go down 1-0. So, we won 4-1!! It was a great way to start off the series and snap that losing streak.

Great performance by all the guys. I thought it was wonderful that we got the double and walk-off homer with two outs. That’s just sooo cool!! We got it just barely, but we got it.

Yesterday we signed our number one draft pick, Donovan Tate. The guy’s almost 19 years old, and he just got a $6.25 million deal. Wow. He was at the game last night, sitting five rows behind home plate.

Speaking of which, there was a pretty good crowd on hand last night. Sure, it was probably mostly Cub fans, but still. 23,420.

Well, tonight Cesar Carrillo is getting his second chance, and I’m scared. This guy was terrible last time out, and I don’t know if that’s going to change. Hmmm. Well, hopefully he will prove me wrong and throw an excellent game.

By the way, we got our 50th win last night. We still have 42 games to play. We have 70 losses, so there’s still a chance that we could have a 100-loss season. But with this team, I highly doubt we’ll get as close as we did last year.

Let’s see how we do tonight. This team has been playing very well, and it’s exciting. Every day, I have hope for Padres baseball. And that’s a great thing to have.

GO PADRES!!!

(photos: ESPN.com)