first pitch: 6:40 p.m., PT
television: Channel 4
matchup: Brian Lawrence (7-15, 5.02 ERA) vs Russ Ortiz (5-11, 6.73 ERA)
preview: Padres.com
Friday night I went out to dinner and saw a guy in a Ryan Leaf jersey. I just about lost my appetite. But I made it through the meal and got home in time to watch the Padres finish off the Diamondbacks in their newly renamed home stadium, Chase Field.
Pedro Astacio worked six strong innings at ex-BOB. Right now, beyond Jake Peavy, he’s the only starter pitching with any kind of consistency.
Despite leaving 13 runners on base and failing to capitalize on Claudio Vargas‘ 7 walks in 6 innings, the Pads scratched out enough runs to get the win. Khalil Greene supplied the big blow, a two-run homer to left off Vargas in the sixth.
Greene is getting hot at just the right time. His batting average and OBP are down from last year, but he’s reached the 15-homer mark for the second straight season. And among big-league shortstops with 400+ PA, only Cleveland’s Jhonny Peralta (.222), Baltimore’s Miguel Tejada (.219), and Milwaukee’s Bill Hall (.194) have a higher ISO than Greene (.188).
As for Saturday’s game, look out for falling objects. Here is how the two scheduled starters have fared since the All-Star break:
Lawrence: 65.2 IP, 6.58 ERA, .301 BAA
Ortiz: 33, 8.73, .338
Hey, who needs batting practice?
Meantime, the Giants won’t go away. They came back from down 6-0 at Coors Field to win again.
The good news is, if the Padres stay focused and keep winning, it won’t matter what the Giants do. Folks can whine about it as much as they want, but the Friars will be in the playoffs. And as I mentioned over on Outsider Radio the other day, anything can happen in a short series.
We’re getting there, my friends; hang tight and keep the faith.
I am not ready to talk about Padre playoffs yet. The Giants keep making me nervous. Most of their wins during this run have been the 1 run variety, thinking that a slight shift in luck could have them drop a few, but those are wins in the bank for them.
They are 7-1 with Bonds. Right now they have very good pitching and an offense that can create runs with Bonds in it. I hope we get some good starts out of Lawrence and Williams because the Giants have Lowry and Cain vs. Wright and Kim. Advantage Giants.
One night of pushing them back to six back I think will kill them. Maybe tomorrow? The odds look bad, but who knows?
Anybody seen X?
The Giants make me nervous, too, but consider that they pretty much have to keep up that 7-1 pace to have any chance. As for pitching, it would be nice to see someone other than Peavy and Astacio (!) get it done down the stretch. On the SF side, Cain is a stud but Lowry strikes me as the kind of guy who could get touched up at Coors.
X? I think the bench has seen him.
Last night I had a dream that B Law got crushed Woody style in the first inning of today’s game. I’m hoping that was just leftover Colorado trauma and not some kind of psychic premonition. And why the hell am I dreaming about Brian Lawrence? Where is Jessica Alba?
Well, with 4 coming up with SF next week, they should at least split the series to remove any doubt.
By the way, with a win tonight, the Padres can eliminate the D-Backs and the Dodgers finally. Both teams are hanging on a thread already, but it would be nice to be left with only one team to think about.
Well, starting Monday its going to be make or break time for the Giants. A lose means two games needed to clinch, but a win only gets them one game closer to use. Its a long shot at best and the Padres seem to have a little offense these days even as the pitching stumbles.
The B factor, as in Barry Bonds makes me wonder. Pretty sure petcomall will not be as freinds to Bonds as Jack Q. Murphy was. Maybe Bonds is the reason they biult PetMall to be such a pitchers parks.
Guys, me thinks you went a bit overboard.
Why is Alexander running for Greene?
Giants lost 6-0. Magic number down to 4.
I don]t want Greene to be injured, but I hope there is a good reason for taking the hottest at out of the lineup.
Greene fouled a ball of his shin
Ah.
aaarghhhhh. Just can’t make things easy, can we?
Hammond has been simply awful since the All-Star break after being nails in the first half. He’ll probably be on the playoff roster ’cause “the book” says you need a LOOGY. It would be a horrible waste of a roster spot. Love ya, Chris, you definitely helped get us here, but your season is done and there’s no way you should playing in October.
Linebrink threw 2 pitches. You have to throw your best reliever more than that in a pennant race, but no, Bochy has to follow his dumb formula.
Just got back from Anaheim, watching the Angels beat the Devil Rays. Disappointing loss for the Pads but at least the magic number went down again.
Kevin, I have to disagree about Linebrink. I’m actually a little shocked to find that he was even used in this game after having thrown 33 pitches on Friday night. That was the fourth time Linebrink had thrown 30+ pitches in a game, and the first time he’d appeared the following day. I know we need to win games down the stretch, but we really need Linebrink in the playoffs.
We also need our starters to make it through the fourth inning but that’s another story. If it weren’t for a complete lack of alternatives, I might suggest that Lawrence is pitching himself out of the playoff rotation.
Also, how do you let the Arizona bullpen spin five scoreless innings against you? Ah well, tomorrow is another day.