Gaslamp Ball

It took 13 innings and heroics by tomorrow's starter, Clayton Richard, but the Padres finally defeated the Angels and declared themselves Kings of Southern Southern California today, but more importantly for the pride of all involved, they moved into 4th place in the NL West, moving ahead of the hated Rockies of Colorado.

Yonder Alonso continues to contend for Rookie of the Year honors, going 2 for 2 with 2 doubles, 2 RBI and 2 walks. Anthony Bass continues to contend for "Not just Ace by Default" honors by going 6 innings with 6 Ks and 2 earned runs.

If you missed the game, it went into extras, and after the benches were used up by both managers, Buddy called on Clayton Richard, and his .000 BA this season, to pinch hit. Clayton got the hit and when Will Venable singled to the outfield, Howie Kendrick gifted us an error. Clayton, running all the way like some sort of gigantic freight train of a man, didn't even need a slide as he strolled into home, making baseball look sooooooo easy.

The Padres win yet another series this season, making it look like something teams just do.

Rollllll Calllll....

Continue reading this post »

Our Padres evened up the series last night in a 3-2 win over Dan Haren and the Angels. Eric Stults made his Padres debut and fared pretty well despite getting the no-decision. He pitched 6 2/3 innings, gave up two runs on four hits, walked three, and struck out two. Alexi Amarista and Cameron Maybin were the offensive keys of the game, teaming up to score the tying runs in both the third and fifth innings. Amarista also knocked in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning and our bullpen kept the Angels off the board to secure the victory.

Today we've got Anthony Bass on the bump to try to lock up the series. His last outing was one of his best, as he won the battle against Stephen Strasburg on the mound. He threw 98 pitches over a career-high eight innings, giving up just one run while striking out seven batters. Today we will see if he can repeat that performance.

Pitching for the Angels will be Ervin Santana, who is also coming off a great outing. In his last start he gave up only four hits and no runs in 7 2/3 innings, and struck out nine in his fourth consecutive quality start. After a rough start to his season, Santana has really picked his game up, and he will try to continue that today.

#Padres lineup today vs #Angels: Venable 9, Maybin 8, Headley 5, Alonso 3, Hundley 2, Amarista 4, Cabrera 6, Tekotte 7, Bass 1

— Sarah Trotto (@sarahtrotto) May 20, 2012

The all-time record between our Padres and the Angels is currently tied at 12, so the winner of today's game will have the advantage in the all-time series. Let's do it, boys!

GO FRIARS!! KEEP THE FAITH!!

Now if only the Padres had a team full of Alexi Amaristas and every night they scurried around the bases like cockroaches then I could buy into the Padres "small ball" philosophy. But as the team stands now Alexi moves so fast and with so much energy that every other player (with the exception of Mike Trout) looks sluggish and lazy. Guys that I used to think of as fast like Cameron Maybin and Will Venable move more AT-ATs than snow speeders.

I'm interested to see where this game ranks in terms of Dex's favorite games because I've heard many including Bob Scanlan say it was his favorite Padres win of the year.

Another tough loss last night means a two-game losing streak for our Padres coming into tonight's game. Jered Weaver dominated our lineup, limiting our Padres to three hits in his seven innings of work. He allowed a solo home run to Will Venable in the sixth inning, and then gave up back-to-back walks and an RBI groundout to Alexi Amarista in the seventh. However, those were the only two runs our Padres scored last night. Jeff Suppan seems to be coming back down to Earth after 2-0 start to the season. He allowed a season-high four runs on six hits. He had no strikeouts and allowed a season-high five walks (one intentional). Luke Gregerson and Miles Mikolas combined for three shutout innings. However, Brad Brach wasn't so successful. With a 4-2 Angels lead going into the 9th inning, a win still seemed to be in reach for our Padres. But the Angels scored three runs off Brach in the top of the 9th and we couldn't get anything off Ernesto Frieri in the bottom of the inning. Tonight our Padres will try to bounce back and stop the losing streak at two games.

Continue reading this post »

I was listening to Weezer today (weird, I know) and I decided that this should be Jeff Suppan's theme song:

And by "back to the good life," I mean "back in the win column." Suppan will try to make that happen tonight as our Padres open up a three-game series against the Angels. His last start wasn't a bad one, but he took his first loss of the season against Cole Hamels and the Phillies. Our Padres are coming off what was one of the worst games of the season, losing 8-1 to split the two-game series with the Dodgers. Tonight we will try to rebound and give the Angels a warm welcome to our ballpark by giving them a loss.

This will be the Angels' first time playing at Petco Park. They will turn to Jered Weaver to lead them to a victory in their Petco Park debut. He is coming off his worst start of the season, and one of the worst of his career. He gave up eight earned runs on ten hits and lasted only 3.1 innings. Before that start, though, he was on a roll. He had given up only one earned run over a total of 21 innings in the three starts prior to his last, so tonight he will try to go back to that.

It's 70's Night at the ballpark, and the Padres will be rocking the hell out of the '78 throwbacks tonight.

Tonight's 1978 throwback jerseys, SWEET!! @Padres twitter.com/MicahOwings/st…

— Micah Owings (@MicahOwings) May 18, 2012

GO FRIARS!! KEEP THE FAITH!!

And just like that Tim Stauffer is hurt again. Newly acquired pitcher Eric Stults will pitch in his place on Saturday.

Stauffer's symptoms popped up again Wednesday.Pitched in Washington next day was sore like normal, Tuesday the elbow still hurt.

— Andy Masur (@PadsCast) May 18, 2012

Eric Stults will start for the #Padres tomorrow in Stauffer's spot.

— Andy Masur (@PadsCast) May 18, 2012

The collective health of the Padres system is on par with people that eat gluten.

Out of morbid curiosity let's look at the Injury List:

Continue reading this post »

XX Sports Radio: Josh Byrnes Interview with Darren Smith (MP3)

• Byrnes made the decision to release Orlando Hudson a week or two ago. With the acquisition of Alexi Amarista and the transition of Jedd Gyorko to AAA it felt like it was time to do it.
• These moves were to make the team better today and for the future. The Padres need the middle infield players to hit.
• Byrnes says it was a difficult personal decision to release Hudson. He traded for him when he was a GM in Arizona. He wasn't a good fit here. Byrnes wishes him nothing but the best. If Hudson's performance was better you wouldn't hear about clubhouse problems, this is a performance business. "Unfortunately for O-Dog his performance wasn't doing the job for us."
• Byrnes talked to John Moores and Tom Garfinkel to get their approval for big moves like these. Owners are usually more willing to move on than baseball people who are more stubborn.
  
• Jason Bartlett's injury is more of an on going issue. "I don't know if it's gotten much worse but it hasn't gotten much better." They let Bartlett know that they couldn't assure him of a job when he gets back.
• Alexi Amarista is a "smaller guy". He can hit and he's always hit for average. He doesn't strike out much. He can play defense. He also has versatility.
• Byrnes says they like both players they got back for Ernesto Frieri from the Angels.
  
• Byrnes says he thinks Carlos Quentin is feeling better. They need his power and his hard nosed style. They'll ease him into an every day job once he gets healthy.