first pitch: 5:05 p.m., PT
television: Channel 4
matchup: Adam Eaton (9-3, 3.86 ERA) vs Rick Helling (1-0, 4.63 ERA)
preview: Padres.com
Great end to the homestand, beating the Diamondbacks on Wednesday afternoon. Yeah, the bullpen made things a little interesting toward the end, but the bottom line is the Pads have a 5 1/2 game lead in the NL West with 30 games to play.
Chan Ho Park pitched well again. He’s made six starts in a San Diego uni now, three good and three bad. But the team has scored at least seven runs in each of those starts so he has a 4-1 record. Hey, whatever works.
Now it’s off to Milwaukee for three with the Brewers. Despite their slightly worse record than the Padres, the Brewers actually have a better run differential.
They also have some exciting young players who are in various stages of development, including second baseman Rickie Weeks, shortstop J.J. Hardy, and “first baseman” Prince Fielder. And a few guys with San Diego connections: former Padre Jeff Cirillo, former Padre draftee Geoff Jenkins (1992, 24th round), USD alum Brady Clark.
And then they have Rick Helling. I honestly didn’t realize he was still pitching. That’s happened to me a few times this year. Aaron Sele. Brian Moehler. And now Helling. Is Mike LaCoss still around somewhere? Maybe I missed the return of Brian Fisher.
Anyway, I was thinking the other day about how Padres fans have to be grateful for the little things. So I decided to make a list. Feel free to print this out and refer to it the next time you’re feeling down about the Friars.
Ten Reasons for Padres Fans to Be Grateful
- The NL West stinks. Seriously, stop bitching about it and just be glad the Padres aren’t in the NL East.
- Phil Nevin rejected the trade that would have brought Sidney Ponson to San Diego. Have you signed the card yet thanking Nevin? It should be making its way around the office. No obligation, but feel free to throw some change in the envelope to buy flowers for Nevin.
- Ruben Rivera isn’t on the team.
- George Arias isn’t on the team.
- Carlos Almanzar isn’t on the team.
- Wiki Gonzalez isn’t on the team.
- D’Angelo Jimenez isn’t on the team.
- Rodney Myers isn’t on the team.
- Bobby Jones isn’t on the team.
- Gary Bennett isn’t on the team.
See, now that the Padres have been kinda good the past couple years, it’s easy to forget just how bad they were. So I’m reminding you. They were real bad.
Okay, enough of that. Pass me the lucky gravy.
P-Mac!
Big Bad Ben Johnson. BOOM! Wow, that was a shot. P-Mac and Ben Johnson. Hot damn!
Johnson — 2-run HR.
The Padres are showing what a good offensive team they are. They are 4th in the NL in Road Runs, which takes away all the park differences between the teams.
Both of Johnson’s homers have been real impressive. The one tonight was a low line drive that looked like it might hook foul but hit the pole.
Hoffman coming in:
Hoffman has saved 31 straight games dating back to April 30 (just save situations, of course).
Error by Greene, damn.
K on change-up. One out (Death).
Lucky Gravy is up.
K on change-up. Two outs (Taxes).
Johnson’s homer is huge now.
Two-run homer. Greene homer is big now.
I meant Johnson. Sorry.
Call it, Kevin.
Hoffman strikes out the side. Three outs (Hoffman).
That’s 428 career saves and 32 straight.