Tagged: will venable
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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Oh yeah, there was a game yesterday too…
In all the Trevor Hoffman excitement yesterday, the actual game sort of flew under the radar. But it’s worth knowing about, because it was a seriously great game.
Cory Luebke started it, and he carried a no-hitter to the fourth inning with two outs, just like he did on his outing before (on Tuesday.) The no-hitter was broken up by the Marlins’ Mike Stanton hitting a solo home run in that fourth inning.
But rewind to the bottom of the first, with leadoff hitter Will Venable starting off the game. With a count of 2-0, he hit a solo home run to right field.
An out later, Cameron Maybin walked. An out after that, Orlando Hudson singled. Then Kyle Blanks doubled in both Maybin and Hudson for a 3-0 Padres lead.
Cory and the Padres cruised through the seven innings. Other than the home run, not much happened. The Padres did leave quite a few runners on base, but we had a solid lead and we’re feeling pretty good.
In the top of the eighth, the Marlins’ John Beck hit a sacrifice fly to move Florida within one run of a tie. Heath Bell came in because there were two outs, and got the final out.
Then the top of the ninth was when the craziness started. Heath Bell got two quick outs when Mike Cameron came to the plate. And. He. Hit. A. Freaking. Home. Run. I couldn’t believe it. I could not believe that he hit a solo home run to tie to game.
“You did not just do that,” I said over and over again. “You did NOT just do that.”
I was not happy. We were literally within one out of winning that stupid game and Mike came in and stole it away from us. Garrrr.
But then we got to the bottom of the ninth. Whew. Thank goodness for the bottom of the ninth.
Nick Hundley, who has been on fire since he came off the disabled list, hit a triple to lead off the inning. SOO exciting.
Then Edward Mujica, who was pitching for the Marlins, intentionally walked the next two hitters to load the bases (Logan Forsythe and Alberto Gonzalez.) We booed him, of course. I knew that it wouldn’t help him at all. Because guess who was coming to the plate? That’s right. Will Venable, the man who started off the game with a home run, was about to finish the game with another bang.
Single over the head of the right field. Nick Hundley scored. Padres win.
It was a great game. Even Heath blowing it gave us the opportunity to finish off the game with excitement. So everything turned out well in the end.
Yesterday was a great day to be a San Diego Padres fan. Thank you to the Padres organization for such a wonderful day at the ballpark.
GO PADRES!!
Believe in SD!!
It was a classic pitching matchup: the veteran, Roy Oswalt, against the kid, Mat Latos.
We all knew it was going to be a huge game because this series has been hyper up to be one of the most important of the year. The Phillies came into San Diego having lost six out of their last eight. The Padres are on the top of the NL West and are definitely making a run for the playoffs. This series could be a preview of the first round of the postseason. And let me tell you, last night’s game was sooo intense, there’s no doubt that it was a preview for those playoffs.
Even though I was hyped about this series, I took the same route that the Padres themselves take: One game at a time, one series at a time. Of course we want to focus on winning the whole series, but we’re only going to get there by winning one game at a time.
Unfortunately, we didn’t do that last night. But it was still an amazing game to watch. I went to the game with my church, which was super fun. It was sooo cool to be there at the game. Right after the Phillies finished batting practice, I heard this huge roar of cheering. I thought, I really really hope that’s just a recorded cheer playing on the commercial on the scoreboard. But no. To my horror, it was the huge amount of Phillies fans in the stands. I thought, “Oh boy. We’re going to have our work cut out for us tonight.”
And we really did. It almost felt like a Dodgers/Padres games because for every play, there was cheering. When the Phillies did something good, there was a large amount of cheering. When the Padres did something good, there was a huge amount of cheering. It was so frustrating to have to battle the Phillies fans the whole time, but it also was a ton of fun.
Oswalt and Latos were great. Their linescores were actually almost identical. Oswalt went eight innings while Latos only went seven, but each gave up five hits, one run, and struck out six.
The umpires bugged me a lot last night. It was pretty sad, but it seemed like they made a lot of calls in the Phillies’ favor. In the bottom of the second, we got caught stealing twice, but I’d say that they were pretty close calls. Man it was frustrating.
Latos allowed the Phillies’ first run in the top of the third. In the bottom of the third, Yorvit Torrealba led off the inning with a solo homer, which was so sweet. It was great to come right back and get that thing tied up.
Not much happened until the eighth inning. Mike Adams came in to take Latos’ place, and he did not do well. It was sooo sad!! After getting one out, he allowed a walk, single, and another walk to load the bases. Joe Thatcher came in to get the left handed, but he didn’t do his job either. He allowed a single which allowed the go-ahead run to score. It was sooo bad.
But in the bottom of the ninth, I knew these boys were not going to give up. Matt Stairs started off the inning, and I thought, you’d better get a hit here. He really has not been that great this year, so it was amazing when he hit a single to start off the inning. Jerry Hairston pinched-ran for him. Eck hit a sac-bunt, and he almost almost got safely to first base because Brad Lidge fumbled the ball. Unfortunately, he recovered quickly, and Eck was out. But at least he got Jerry over to second. Miguel Tejada grounded out, which really stunk.
Then the craziness started. Adrian Gonzalez was intentionally walked. With a count of 0-2, Ryan Ludwick was hit-by-pitch to load the bases. He was hit pretty hard too. Thankfully, he was okay and the game went on.
Chase came up next. Suddenly, I saw Jerry Hairston jumping up and down at third and pointing to the pitcher. Brad Lidge had balked!!!! Oh my goodness, it was the best moment of the whole game. It was sooooooooo exciting!! We tied the game and still had runners at second and third. Unfortunately, Chase grounded out to end the inning, but at least we kept the game going.
Heath Bell came into the game in the top of the 10th. Of course, he just had to allow a walk, but he got out of the inning unscathed.
In the bottom of the inning, we went down 1-2-3. In the top of the 11th, Heath put them down in order. We got a single in the bottom of that inning, but no avail.
Then the trouble started in the top of the 12th. Ernesto Freri came in to pitch, and I was excited because he’s done fairly well this season. But no. Last night he did not do well at all. He allowed a double to start off the inning, and there’s obviously a lot of things wrong with that. It’s a tie game, extra innings, no outs. Very bad situation. Then he allowed a single to center. Luis Durango made a very, very good throw to the plate, but Jimmy Rollins expertly slid in and Yorvit Torrealba missed the tag. It was sooooooooo sad!!!! I was seriously angry at the umpire, but looking at the replay today shows that he made the right call. Still. It was really, really bad.
We got out of that inning without any further damage. In the bottom of the 12th, after two outs, I knew that we weren’t going to win that game. But I refused to believe it. All through Will Venable’s eight-pitch at-bat, I cheered my heart out. I refused to let myself, as a fan, go down quietly. I cheered them through, but Will struck out to end the game. I was pretty frustrated, no doubt about it. But it was just one game, and I’m sure we will go out there and get them today.
It was a blast watching this game. I’m now 2-2 on the year though, so I think I’ll have to get out there again to make it a winning record.
GO FIRST-PLACE PADRES!!!
Nothing Can Stop Us
This series against the Mariners was so cool! Mostly because we swept them. But there were so many parts of this series that were so encouraging to see. How did we win all three games? How did this team work together to get the job done? That’s what I’m going to talk about today.
In the first game of the series, it was all about the pitching. Clayton Richard started and boy did he throw a great game. He went six solid innings, only allowing five hits and four walks while striking out five. He then transfered the game to the bullpen 1-2-3 punch of Luke Gregerson, Mike Adams and Heath Bell. Also known as GAB. Heath allowed a walk and a hit, just to make things a little interesting, but he was able to close the game to get his 20th save of the year. Will Venable and Oscar Salazar gave us all the offense we needed: Will with a two-run homer, and Oscar with a run-driving-in single.
San Diego’s pitching is the bomb.
So we won that first game of the series 3-0. In the second game of the series, Jon Garland went up against ace Josh Johnson. Both are very, very solid pitchers, but who do you think would triumph? The Padres, of course. No ace, not even guys with 13-1 records and 1.60 ERAs, can stop my Padres.
Okay, to be honest, Johnson was a tough pitcher. But we still came up on top, and that’s the thing that really matters.
Garland went 6.2, only allowing one run on four hits. Johnson went eight innings, allowing two runs on five hits. Not bad at all, but it was all the Padres needed. Add a little bullpen of, you guessed it, Gregerson, Adams, and Bell, and we’ve got another Padres win. Score of 2-1. Adrian Gonzalez drove in one and Garland drove in the other. Simple as that.
We hadn’t had a sweep in a while. So we decided to go for it. Mat Latos started and was amazing. He went 5.2 innings, allowing one run on five hits. Then Ryan Webb came in and gave up a run, which wasn’t a good thing.
In the top of the first, Chase Headley singled in David Eckstein. Then Will Venable sac-flied one in.
But Will wasn’t having that great of a game. He dropped two foul balls and a fly ball. But on the other hand, he did drive in three runs, and I’d say, he won the game for us.
With the game tied at two in the top of the eighth, Will hit a two-run bomb to take the lead. Heath Bell was out of service, so Luke Gregerson came in and got the save. Thank goodness. I mean, Heath’s a great pitcher and all, but he is so stressing! I really appriciate closers who have three up, three down innings.
It was a great game. A great series! But one thing that I’d really like to point out is how we were able to win these games without much help from Adrian Gonzalez. Contrary to popular belief, I think that Adrian is not carrying our offense. I think we’ve got a solid group of guys that can win with or without Adrian Gonzalez. All Adrian did yesterday was score a run. He didn’t provide any offense, and yet, we somehow won! Amazing.
This team is so solid that they can win no matter what. If Adrian went down with an injury, I would not be worried at all. I believe that this team would still win consistently. They really aren’t getting the credit they deserve. They are the first-place team in the NL West for goodness sakes!! When are you going to be able to get that in your head? This is seriously legit. They’ve got this in their hands and they’re not going to let it go. This boys are so for real it’s not even funny.
Tonight we get to face the most solid pitcher in the majors. Blah blah blah. I’m not putting down Ublado Jimenez’s accomplishments. I mean, 13-1 and 1.60 are pretty impressive numbers. But I can’t wait for my Padres to make that 13-2. No problemo.
Kevin Correia can do it. Adrian Gonzalez and his offense can do it. GAB can do it. The San Diego Padres can do it. They can beat this guy as the best team in the National League.
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!!!
NL West Leaders!
My boys are AMAZING!! I am so happy that we’re keeping our own in interleague here. Last year, two years ago, we probably wouldn’t have won a series yet against any American League team, but we’re only 7-5 so I think we’re on the right track.
The Orioles are really not that great of a team this year, so I don’t see why we even lost the second game of the series. But the most important thing was that we won the other two. To prove my point, the Orioles are 23.5 games behind in their division. Um yeah.
Friday night’s game was sooo amazing!! We were tied at 1 for a while, then we got a 2-1 lead, then Heath Bell blew the save, and then we got a walk-off single from Adrian in the bottom of the ninth. I love those games. So sweet!
Then we lost on Saturday.
But we won again on Sunday! Jon Garland started the game by giving up four runs in the top of the first. Jon Steven Garland, that is not the way to start a game. I’m ashamed of you.
I’m sorry to say that I haven’t been that impressed with Garland this season. I think he’s one of the top paid players on this team, which says a lot ($10 million haha). He’s definitely done some good for this team, but he’s definitely not what I expected. I guess I expected him to be an ace who went seven innings each outing without allowing any runs and very few hits. He’s had a few outings like that, but not many. I guess we’ll just have to see, but I haven’t been entirely impressed with him at all.
He did end up going six innings, only allowing those four runs.
The offense really came out yesterday. Adrian hit three doubles. Nick Hundley, Scott Hairston, and Will Venable each had two hits. Nick hit a two-run homer and Will hit a three-runner. I was so happy when I found out that we had come back from that 4-1 deficit to take a 6-4 lead, which we eventually extended to 9-4.
Lancey-boy started at third, but he did not get a hit, only a walk. His average is now .200. Pick it up!!
The bullpen was solid as usual. Luke Gregerson, Mike Adams, and Joe Thatcher were the men of the day out there.
We’re playing really well right now. Well, maybe not really well, but we’re getting by. We’ve still got our first-place lead by 1.5 games over the Giants. The Dodgers are now two games back.
There’s a poll right now on mlb.com that asks which team will win the NL West. The highest votes are for the Dodgers with 39%. But the Padres come in second with 22%. I am glad that the Padres are up there, but anyone who’s been watching the NL West for any amount of time this season should obviously be voting for the Padres. The Dodgers have barely spend any time up top and when they did, they couldn’t hold onto it. My Padres are just too good. NL West Champions all the way, baby.
My boys have an off-day/travel day today as they go to Tampa Bay. Let me tell you, this is going to be a really interesting series. Hopefully my Padres come out on top.
GO FIRST-PLACE PADRES!!!
We’re BACK!!
Yeah, that’s right, Dodgers. Thought you were safe in that first-place lead did you? Thought maybe you were going to stick up there? No way! Not on my watch!! That’s right, my Padres are back and they are not going to give up until they have complete and utter possesion of first place. So there.
Last night’s game was great! I am so glad that we’re back home. In our last ten games, we are 5-5. In fact, we were on a one-game losing streak going into last night’s game. It was a huge relief to get off of that, as I’m sure you understand.
I think the theme of this game is that the boys never give up. These Padres don’t give up. They just don’t. I was distractedly listening to the game last night, not even knowing what inning it was, and I thought, are the boys able to come back and win this thing? Do they have what it takes to overcome a one-run deficit? Well, I’m here to tell you that they can and they will.
Kevin Correia started this game and pitched very well. I was impressed. He went six innings, allowing eight hits and three runs. He was really good. I’m telling you, our pitching is perfect.
The Padres actually scored first on a single, a triple, a ground out, and a single. That gave us a two-run lead.
Then the Mariners got three runs. That wasn’t good. But at least we got first blood.
In the bottom of the ninth, we got down to business. Will Venable singled, Eck sacrificed him over, and Chase was hit by pitch. Then Adrian came up and doubled in Will. So sweet. Scotty “Walkoff” Hairston was intentionally walked, which set up things for Nick Hundley.
My goodness Nick has been hot. I love that dude. In fact, he was so hot that he drove in our winning run with a sac-fly. We’ve seen a lot of weird walk-offs before, but I’m not sure if I’ve seen one quite like that before. Good job, Nick!!
See? We did it. We came back and won the game and we put ourselves back in first place. Big thanks to the Dodgers for losing last night.
I was also very excited that we won this game because we’re back in Interleague again. And as you all know, I HATE interleague. Mostly because the Padres have always been HORRIBLE in interleague. That thing used to literally kill our season. But thankfully, the boys are going to dominate this year and not totally drown under the almighty American League teams. We are 3-1 in interleague. Amazing.
Lance Zawadzki didn’t play at all last night 😦 Me sad. But he did get a start on Thursday, and uh…lowered his average to .207. Hmm.
We are now back in first place, and if I have anything to say about it, we are there to stay. Ahh. It’s so good to be back.
GO FIRST-PLACE-TIED PADRES!!!!!
BEAT LA!!
You know, the Padres have gone 40 years without any player hitting for the cycle. But for some reason, I think that’s finally going to be fulfilled very soon. We’ve come very, very close multiple times this season already. I’d say that we’ve been one hit away three or four times. It’s going to happen. Last night, Will Venable put on quite the show. Even though he didn’t hit for the cycle, it was still an impressive performance.
Will was in the leadoff spot for the first time this season, and I think that’s a good spot for him to be. He went 4-for-5 last night, with a single, two doubles, a triple, and a walk. He also scored four runs. Pretty amazing. He was just a home run away! Huge game for him.
Another person who had a huge game was Adrian Gonzalez. He drove in a career-high six runs, including a massive three-run homer.
I think this is going to be a game that we’ll remember for a long time. Not really for anything too huge, but there were just so many interesting aspects of it. First of all, it was another battle for our first-place lead. With LA’s nine-game winning streak or whatever, they’ve really gotten into this race. Now it’s not just SanFran we’re going to have to worry about. Like I’ve said before, my boys are not sitting comfortably on top of the NL West. This thing is a fight, and we have to keep pushing to keep this lead.
Second of all, this game was ridiculously long. I’m sure it didn’t help that we had scored eight runs before the fifth inning, and that Jon Garland was pitching. The guy’s a good pitcher and all, but my goodness, somebody really needs to speed him up. As it is, he only went five innings, allowing four runs on nine hits. But then again, Ramon Ortiz only went 3.1 innings.
Third, it was overall a great offensive game for the whole team. Sure, we have Adrian and Will as standouts, but the whole lineup really contributed. We had 10 runs and 14 hits. Notable is the top of the lineup: Will, four hits; Eck, two hits; Adrian, three hits. Chase Headley hit a solo home run.
At the same time, though, we left a ton of runners on base. We could have been well on our way to 20 runs, but we left 13 runners on base. We were only 7-for-22 with runners in scoring position! That was something that was a little frustrating, but we did take a little advantage. We got two runs in the top of the ninth after not scoring since the fourth inning.
One person on this team I am really frustrated with right now is Edward Mujica. I mean, he hasn’t been horrible, but he has been giving up a few runs here and there. I don’t like it.
Luke Gregerson and Ryan Webb had perfect one-inning outings, which was good. I was really glad that we got those two runs in the top of the ninth so that Heath wouldn’t have to pitch.
It was an amazing game. It’s always great to beat the Dodgers, and it was cool to break their winning streak, since they were so rude as to break ours over the weekend. I really hope that we’ll be able to get the little sweep tonight.
So I’d like to talk about Trevor Hoffman a little. A couple nights ago, he blew his fifth save of the year in 10 chances. That is not good at all. I’m worried about him. He’s usually a lot better than this. I mean, like he said, it’s not like he was throwing 90 last year and now he’s down to 80. He wasn’t completely solid last year, but he closed down games. I’d like to say that he’s not doing so well because he left San Diego, but I know that even if he did come back here, he would probably be throwing the same way. But whatever happens, he can’t retire yet, and he doesn’t want to do that either. He’s just a little off right now (okay, a lot) and the Brewers are going to give him a break for a couple games. We love you, Trevor!
Tonight the Padres are playing the Dodgers again. Kevin Correia is going against Clayton Kershaw. We haven’t done that well agaisnt Kershaw this season, but the past is the past.
Let’s get ’em, boys.
GO FIRST-PLACE PADRES!!
17 For The Padres and Top 10 For Me
Yesterday was a great day for Padres fans and all of San Diego. It was Opening Day, it was raining (sort of), and it was so much fun that I could be laughing my head off right now if I really wanted to. Because my Padres, at Petco Park, that pitcher’s park as it’s so often called, scored 17 runs. 17. Yeah, you read that right.
The start of the season on the road wasn’t that great, and definitely not what I was expecting. But then, once we get home in front of a home crowd of 42,843, things really turned on. I think the boys were a little frustrated about their start and everything really came out yesterday.
To start it off, Colbie Caillat sang the National Anthem and Phillip Rivers threw out the first pitch. I’ve heard a lot of theories that one or both of these people sparked out offensive bombing.
Then, as I talked about in yesterday’s entry, Kevin Correia went out there and threw amazingly solid. If he hadn’t been on his game like he was yesterday, things would not have been as pretty. But as it was, he was incredible. He threw 5.2 innings, only allowing two runs, two hits, four walks, and three strikeouts. Doesn’t look like much, but he was solid.
Take a look at the Braves’ Jair Jurrjens’ numbers: He only lasted 3.1 innings, allowing eight runs!! BWAHAHAHAHA!
Going into the bottom of the fourth, we had already scored a run on a Nick Hundley single in the second. But in that fourth inning, things really clicked for the Padres as they sent the Braves’ pitchers down the drain.
It all started with a Chase Headley double, a Will Venable single (then steal of second), and a Nick Hundley walk. I was very excited because we had bases loaded with NO outs, and we just had to get some runs in that inning. If only I’d known.
After that, T-Gwynn walked to drive in our second run. Up next was Kevin Correia, the starting pitcher, and guess what he did? He hit a two-run single!! I was laughing, it was so funny. I mean, you wouldn’t expect the pitcher to come up and actually help himself out, but that’s what happened!
A few batters later, Adrian hit a ground rule double to bring in yet another run. The Braves had seen enough, so they made a pitching change. Little good that would do.
Kyle Blanks doubled in two guys, and then Chase Headley singled in Kyle. Will Venable hit a two-run homer. Kevin Correia finally ended the inning by striking out. All in all, we scored ten runs and got seven hits in that fourth inning. And it was only the fourth inning!
I could not believe what was happening there. It was just so amazing, and so unlike what I’ve been seeing for the last week!
In the bottom of the fifth, Kyle Blanks hit a three-run homer. It was about this time when I realized that Will Venable had had three hit so far in the game: a single, a triple, and a home run. And then I started getting really excited. Like breathing-hard-overwhelmed-with-excitedness excited. Like it could be actually possible that the Padres would get their first ever cycle.
Well, it didn’t happen. Turns out that both Will and Kyle were one hit away at the end, and neither of them got it. But that’s okay. I know (at least I’m hoping) that we will hit for a cycle someday. Even though it’s already been 40 years and it hasn’t happened. It will.
Even though they didn’t reach that goal, they both had incredible nights at the plate. Kyle Blanks had three hits and drove in five runs. Will had three hits, drove in two runs, and scored four runs. Other standouts in this game are David Eckstein, who had three hits, and Chase Headley and Nick Hundley, who each had two hits.
Overall, it was an incredible game. We were 10-for-17 with runners in scoring positon. And hey, we had 19 hits and 17 runs. IT WAS SUCH A SWEET GAME!!!
Another thing that was super exciting for me was when the Latest Leaders list for MLBlogs came out yesterday. I’m #10 on the list!!!
I’m sooooo excited!!! It was totally unexpected and completely uplifting. I’ve been blogging here for almost two years now, and the closest I’d ever been to the top of the list was #15. I’ve always been okay with wherever I was on the list, but it’s just really cool to know that people are reading my stuff and enjoying it too!
I know that I owe big thanks to a few people whose influence is definitely part of this ranking. Gaslamp Ball has been linking my entries on their blog for a while now, and I know that that’s helped me a lot. Thanks so much guys!! RJ’s Fro has also been linking by entries, and I know that that’s had a lot of influence too. I am so grateful to you guys! Thanks so much!!
Thank you also to websites that I’m not aware of who are linking my blog. It always excites me to discover you guys, and thanks so much!
And a HUGE thank you to all my readers. If it wasn’t for you guys, I wouldn’t even have a purpose for blogging here. Thank you so much for getting me to where I am today. I have a blast doing this, and I hope you love reading and I much as I love putting all this together. THANK YOU!!!!!
The Padres have an off-day in the middle of the series, which is a little odd, but I guess they deserve it after that amazing game yesterday. Man, we scored 17 runs!! So cool.
That’s my boys.
GOOOO PADRES!!!
That’s More Like It
We saw a great Padres team during Spring Training. Somehow, that team got left behind on Opening Day. But thankfully, they got here last night! That dominant-pitching, base-stealing, agressive-hitting, stunning-defense team that we watched in Spring Training has arrived.
Seriously, it was a huge relief to watch these guys play last night. They had me a little worried there after Opening Day, but I think everything’s going to be okay.
A huge part of the success of this game was the pitching performance by Chris Young. Did you know that this guy hadn’t started a game since June of last year? Anyways, he threw six incredibly solid innings. He threw a one-hitter with three walks and five strikeouts. Man he was solid. That was the Chris Young that we saw in 2007. He’s been plagued by injuries for the past few seasons, but I think he’s really back. And that’s HUGE news for the Padres. It’s just huge. Amazing outing by CY last night.
Another big part of this game was Everth Cabrera. In the top of the second, he hit a two-run double to break open the game.
Then Will Venable hit a solo homer in the top of the fourth. That kid has soo much power!
In the top of the sixth, Everth did it again. This time he hit a two-run triple to extend our lead to 5-0. He finished the game with three hits and four RBIs.
CY was pulled after only 86 pitches, so the bullpen came in and made things interesting. Luke Gregerson came in and gave up three runs. Not good. Then Cesar Ramos and Mike Adams came in and they did fine.
So we went into the top of the ninth with a 5-3 lead, and I was already thinking about getting some insurance for Heath. Yeah, I know, he did great last year, but he made it interesting enough to make me nervous even with a two-run lead. So I was thrilled when Adrian Gonzalez hit his second home run of the year in as many nights.
ADRIAN’S SOOO AMAZING!!! I just think it’s soooo cool that he’s already got two home runs and we’ve only played two games. Man he’s amazing.
We got our extra insurance run, and Heath Bell came in to try to save his first game of the year. He did make things interesting, as usual, which was actually caused by his defense, but then they redeemed themselves by turning a double play behind him. He struck out the last batter to finish of the game.
Huge sigh of relief. That game was amazing, and soooo much better than the game before. I’m so thrilled that we were able to play so amazingly last night.
By the way, we stole three bases last night. It was really cool to see all that during the spring, but even better to know that it’s actually going to happen in the regular season.
Tonight we’re wrapping up this series with the D’backs. Kevin Correia will be starting for the Padres. YAY!!
GO PADRES!!
Unfinished Business 
