first pitch: 5:10 p.m., PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: David Wells (2-5, 4.80) vs Jeff Suppan (12-7, 4.07 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com | ESPN
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The Padres head to St. Louis in a matchup of the two NL division leaders that are still looking to clinch a playoff spot. The Padres’ magic number is 6, while the Cardinals’ is 5. The Friars also are up 2 1/2 games on St. Louis in the battle for home-field advantage in the first round.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
David Wells remains in search of his first win since returning to the Padres. Right now he is easily the weakest link in the rotation, and it’d be nice to see him get into a groove. The good news is, he hasn’t looked terrible in his four starts for San Diego. The bad news is, “hasn’t looked terrible” doesn’t really cut it when you’re gunning for the playoffs.
Current Cardinals are batting .293/.321/.537 against Wells in 147 at-bats. Scott Rolen (.444/.444/1.222 in 9 AB), Jim Edmonds (.314/.351/.629 in 35 AB), and Juan Encarnacion (.292/.320/.583 in 24 AB) have been the chief culprits.
Meantime, Jeff Suppan continues to excel at getting the maximum out of the minimum. He allows a ton of hits, he doesn’t have impeccable control, and he doesn’t strike people out. All he does is win games and post respectable ERAs. And unfortunately for the Padres, he’s got a couple other things working for him: Suppan has a 2.97 ERA over 97 innings at home this year, and a remarkable 2.04 ERA over 83 2/3 innings since the All-Star break. Difficult to explain, but there it is.
Current Padres are batting .326/.379/.624 against Suppan in 178 at-bats. Mike Piazza (.533/.533/1.533) has five homers in 15 at-bats. Dave Roberts (.667/.700/1.111 in 9 AB), Geoff Blum (.571/.571/.714 in 14 AB), and Brian Giles (.273/.370/.545 in 24 AB) also have enjoyed success against the finesse right-hander.
Big series at Busch begins tonight. Go Padres!
I think the at-bat with Pujols was all based on the first pitch….if that pitch gets called a strike (which it certainly looked like it was), Linebrink pitches him more aggressively..but after he fell behind he was in trouble. Also..the difference between Pujols and Rolen….Rolen swung at the same pitch that Pujols took twice..
Hey, GY, maybe we should have a meet up down at Petco on the big screen on a night if it looks like the Padres can clinch. What do you think?
197: Brilliant, GY. Five stars.
I’d be so down to head down to the Park at the Park for a possible “you-know-what” type of game (my brother and I don’t say the C word, September baseball calls for superstition). Celebrating with all the Padres fans there and then down in the Gaslamp would be awesome.
OT … Travis Chick getting another pasting for the M’s … http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/boxscore?gid=260925112
A meetup? Oooh, I’m liking it. I can make it Friday (6:40 p.m. PT start) or Sunday (1:10 p.m. PT). Anyone else?
Magic number is the number of Padres wins OR Dodgers losses left to win the division.
Hmmm, I’m gonna be in town on Thursday for a wedding on Saturday … I could be talked into a trip downtown … even if we have C-word’d by then …
re: 206 … right Kevin … and there’s also another “magic number” … you’ve described the “magic number to win the NL West” … to me, the more critical is the “magic number to get into the playoffs … which at this time is defined as … the number of Padre wins + max(LA losses, Philly losses) …
re: 208 … and just to be clear, since LA & Philly are both 82-74, both of the magic numbers are 5 at this time …
Here’s a reason to root against Philly … if they drop out (ie. lose enough games to be behind both Padres and Dogs), then even if we tie the Dogs, we’ll be NL West champs without a 1-game playoff … that 1-game playoff is something that’d be HUGE to avoid! I’d rather have the Dogs in the playoffs (as the wild card, of course) than have to do that 1-game play-in game.
re: 208-209
Sure, but winning the NL West is the goal. Until that is no longer a possibility, then I don’t really acknowledge the wild card.
211 … that’s where we disagree … I think getting into the playoffs is the goal … because that’s step #1 to winning the World Championship … it’s not old-school, but it’s the way things are.
For example, it comes down to Sunday … we’ve clinch’d the wild card, but not the NL West … do we go with #1 starter? Or save him for game 1 of playoffs? I s’pose this hypothetical also would require knowing the status of home-field advantage …
I wonder if SA + KT + BB are pondering this yet? Does that get them looking too far ahead? Or would that just be prudent?
Our rotation here on out …
Tues … Woody (vs Carpenter)
Wed … CYoung (vs AReyes)
Thu … Jake (at AZ)
Fri … Hensley (at AZ)
Sat … Gout-man? Thompson? (at AZ)
Sun … Woody (at AZ)
The playoff schedule is at http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/schedule/ps_06.jsp … the non-WildCard matchup starts Tuesday … so if LA is the WC, Padres would play NL Central champs on Tuesday … if Phily is the WC and Padres the NL West champs, Padres would play Phillies on Wed … if Padres are the WC, they would play Mets on Wed …
Tuesday will be Jake’s normal rest … but it’d be CY’s turn … who goes #1? Is there any doubt?
Count me in for at least Sunday. I’m not sure about Friday yet.
More from Wikipedia … http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gout …
Famous people who had gout:
One of the most famous sufferers of gout was Henry VIII. Others include John Calvin, Khubilai Khan, Nostradamus, John Milton, Queen Anne, Isaac Newton, Henry Fielding, Samuel Johnson, Charles V, Pablo Neruda, Alfred Lord Tennyson, George IV, John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson, Karl Marx, William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, Benjamin Disraeli, Kirk Reuter, David Wells, Rubens, Lennart Torstenson, Peter Gomes, Alexander Hamilton, George Mason, Benjamin Franklin, Jared Leto.
… Kirk Reuter and David Wells on the same list as John Calvin, Isaac Newton and Ben Franklin??? Just bizarre …
re: 212
If the Padres were the wild card, they would play the Mets. I wouldn’t want to play them first. Yes, wild cards have often won the World Series, but that’s not the easy way to do it.
A history of closing:
http://www.washtimes.com/sports/20060926-120124-4264r.htm
Nice win. I like Bochy’s moves. Even leaving in Thompson, though I disagree with Piazza on the second fastball. You sneak the one heater by him, then try something else. Two past him is like the old addage, foul me once, shame on you, foul me twice…; anyway, I also like the four out Linebrink move, though I thought he should have double switched (maybe he did). It was by necessity, but that was Linebrink of old. Made Rolen look bad. He would have gone after Pujols, but as Mark O as in 201, it was about that first pitch (which was a strike). He gets that call, different AB.
Wow. 2 up with 6 left. A tough 6, but man, just have a little fun here, just imagine what it feels like if you are the Dogs tomorrow looking at the scoreboard. Pretend, fantasy like, we have a nice lead tomorrow, you now face the Rox basically 2.5 back. You lose, you are 3 down with 5 left, very, very tight. A little pressure, no? All those dramatic jacks and still cannot make up ground. Frustrating? Well, we’ll see. We have the cornered, rapid Red Birds trying to peck our eyes out Hitchcock style, so let’s keep playing tough.
I say if we win 4 of the next 6, we clinch.
Profound Axion…profound!!!
I feel good today. Nice win last night.