first pitch: 10:20 a.m., PT
television: Fox
matchup: Pedro Astacio (3-10, 5.51 ERA) vs Horacio Ramirez (10-7, 4.73 ERA)
preview: ESPN | Padres.com
Okay, who saw that coming?
You lie.
There were more runs scored in Friday night’s game at Atlanta than there were in the entire Marlins series. Check it out:
| SD | 4 | 18 | 1 |
| Fla | 10 | 22 | 0 |
And Friday’s contest:
| SD | 12 | 20 | 0 |
| Atl | 7 | 13 | 0 |
And if you want to know what people mean when they say statistics lie, tell somebody that the Padres are averaging four runs per game on the current road trip.
Anyway, we’ll take it. Every spot in the lineup had at least one hit. Six Padres had multiple hits. Three (Brian Giles, Mark Loretta, Xavier Nady) had three or more hits. Chan Ho Park wasn’t great but he didn’t need to be.
Oh, and that Jeff Francouer kid on the Braves? Memo: He’s got game.
The other good news from Friday is that the Braves had to use five relievers to clean up Mike Hampton‘s mess. That means Atlanta will be looking for innings out of Ramirez on Saturday. Ramirez has allowed 1.46 HR/9 this year. Only five NL pitchers have served up more taters in 2005. Also, Ramirez has the worst K/9 rate in the senior circuit among 52 qualifiers. He checks in at 2.79, which is a full strikeout below the next guy (the Mets’ Tom Glavine).
I take nothing for granted with Astacio on the hill, but this looks like a winnable game to me. Remember, it’s being televised by Fox, so you may want to crank up the ol’ radio. Go Pads!
Francouer has a serious arm. That play at the plate was closer than one would have thought it was going to be. He has nine assists in his short time in the bigs.
Joe Montana’s brother sucks. Ducks on the pond and he grounds weakly to the infield, emphasis on weakly.
What is wrong with the guy, Duck? Your table says we should get Shawn back in there.
Oh well, 1-0 and national TV.
The Joker had a three-run homer last night. Let’s let him suck for a few more games before we ride him again.
Small sample. Randa’s a better player than what he’s showed us so far. Sometimes things don’t look so hot in the short run. Unfortunately, there aren’t too many games left this year so we may or may not get to see it even out for him. It would be nice to see Randa catch fire before it’s over. I’d like to get more out of him than a draft pick.
Agreed. Main point of the table wasn’t to show that Randa sucks (he doesn’t) but that the Pads haven’t seen much improvement yet at third base despite going out and making a move.
we better start adding on because Pedro has about one more inning before starting to run out of gas, if he follows his normal pattern. Hopefully he doesnt give up 3 runs before Bochy recognizes it and relieves him.
Marcus flies out to Brian in center. Earlier, Brian grounded out to Marcus at second.
Ramirez has struck out two Padres today. His season high in 24 starts is four. He’s done that twice: once in his first start of the season, April 9 against the Mets; and again in a July 7 three-hit shutout against the Cubs. Four is also the number of strikeouts he had in three previous August starts combined, covering 16 1/3 innings.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/gamelog?playerId=5072
Damn, we’re back to no run support. Astacio is pitching a nice game, too.
Olivo with the Padres coming into today: .288/.327/.558
Giles: four pitches in four at-bats today.
Wow. Does he have to be somewhere after the game?
That was a huge double play with Francoeur on deck.
Aki taking advantage of Francouer’s overanxiousness. He’ll learn that you can’t hit that slider.
That’s a nice, easy way to get two outs.
That’s four double plays today by the Padres.
Sweeney, Klesko or Roberts coming up?
Free baseball.
Hensley starts the tenth. Talk about working your way up the ranks quickly.
Greetings all. Late to the party…as usual.
Geoff, how close is Barfield to being ready? Next year? There’s a follow-up question based on your answer.
Palmeiro has cleared waivers.
PS – Epic collapse by the Giants last night. Five runs allowed in the ninth. An enjoyable listen on the way home from work.
I haven’t seen Barfield play this year, but judging by the numbers, he’s probably not too far off. Maybe middle of next season?
The relatively recent trend of drafting collegiate closers and bringing them up right away is interesting. It worked real well for Chad Cordero, not so much for Ryan Wagner. This kid Devine looks pretty good.
Devine is out of N.C. State, my alma mater, but I wanted him to get shelled.
We’ve got defensive changes, but Nady stays in the game.
D Roberts in center field.
X Nady at first base.
B Giles in right field.
That was a gutsy move by Cox, letting Devine try to lay down the sac bunt with nobody out. I can’t get over how much confidence a guy as successful as Cox has in his young players.
Okay, folks, I gotta go. I made other plans based on the assumption that this game would be over by now. I’ll catch y’all later. Go Pads!
Now Devine’s batting average matches his ERA.
That’s five DPs for the Padres defense. That one was a strikeout, pick-off.
Hell yeah! Grand Slam, Nady!
The Padres are back at .500. They are 5-0 vs. Atlanta. If Arizona loses tonight, they will be five back, which is a huge lead in this division.
All of the pitchers, Olivo and Nady were impressive today. Astacio has been good, very good when you just consider his starts. Olivo’s numbers with the Padres are very good. Hensley’s ERA is down to 2.01.