first pitch: 1:05 p.m., PT
television: FOX
matchup: Jake Peavy (4-7, 4.96 ERA) vs Ervin Santana (6-3, 4.29 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com | ESPN
New hitting coach Merv Rettenmund pays immediate dividends, as he gets Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez to hang an 0-2 breaking ball to Khalil Greene and catcher Mike Napoli to throw away a bunt by Josh Barfield, leading to the Padres come-from-behind-win in the opener at Anaheim. Everyone else in the NL West lost Friday night, which puts the Padres a game out of first place.
Adrian Gonzalez continues to swing the hot bat. He had three knocks, including a solo homer to right in the sixth. Gonzalez is hitting .375/.412/.667 in June. Only four batters in the NL have a higher OPS during the month, and you’ll like the names: Scott Rolen (1194), Nick Johnson (1193), David Wright (1188), and Carlos Beltran (1154). That’s called keeping good company.
Saturday afternoon features a matchup I ordinarily would like, but lately Peavy has been less than Jake. Everyone says he is healthy, and most of his peripheral numbers are solid, but he sure is working harder to get guys out this season.
On the other side, Ervin Santana has gotten off to a nice start in his first full season. He doesn’t strike out many guys, but he also doesn’t walk many and he’s doing a good job keeping the ball in the yard. Opponents are hitting .243/.300/.387 against the 23-year-old right-hander.
That overall total is impressive, but even moreso are his numbers against right-handed batters: .224/.277/.318. Translation: Not a guy you want to see Vinny Castilla face.
The game is televised on FOX, which means the announcers won’t know about most Padres players. Here’s your cheat sheet to guys they’ll know about: Brian Giles (traded for Jason Bay), Dave Roberts (Dodgers, Red Sox), Mike Cameron (Mets), Vinny Castilla (Coorsflation), Mike Piazza (Dodgers, Mets), Mark Bellhorn (Cubs, Red Sox), Geoff Blum (homered in 2005 World Series), Josh Bard (Red Sox), and Chan Ho Park (Dodgers). Maybe Trevor Hoffman (pitched against the Yankees in 1998 World Series).
Time for some vintage Jake. Time for another win. Go Padres!
Once again Fox shows their passion for baseball by interupting the game to show Jeopardy highlights. I hope we get a Scooter appearance too.
Wonder how bad the injury to Doc is? Didn’t look good.
What happened on the inside-the-park home run?
Roberts ran toward the left field line, went into a slide, the ball hit his glove and bounced out. Robert’s right knee then slid under the pad and hit the concrete wall. He laid there and couldn’t move. By the time Khalil got out to get the ball, Dallas McPherson had scored on the inside the park home run. Lousy way to lose. They pick up two runs on that hit, due to the injury to Roberts, and McPherson makes a nice play on Barfield’s line drive down the 3rd base line with two on in the 9th to end the game. Lose the game. Probably lose Roberts. I think we should throw at McPherson tomorrow.
Nick Hundley with HR #7 for Ft Wayne today … good to see him getting productive at the plate!
Jared Wells with a rough outing @ Portland tonight … his first @ AAA, I believe.
Wow … I’m stunned that the D-back keep giving Kevin Jarvis innings … http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/boxscore?gid=260617113 … we’d be up in arms!
Missed the game, took the kids to Soak City for a bday. That place is fun, loved squirting people with water by the HUGE bucket, could do that all day.
Heard US tied with italy on an italian own goal. Well, we will take the tie and the point. Now if we could teach our forwards what offsides means, we might have three points and the biggest upset in the WC so far. But really, how tough can Ghana be?
being that ESPN only covers two teams in baseball and hearing John Katera really cranky on the radio, I’d say the Padre blew it somehow. Any word, or should I catch it the paper tomorrow, while eating breakfast in bed…
Anyway happy Father’s Day to the fathers out there and remember to call the old man.