first pitch: 7:10 p.m., PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Jake Peavy (9-14, 4.17 ERA) vs Brad Penny (16-8, 4.04 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com
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Brad Penny was an All-Star this year but he hasn’t pitched like one since the break. He owns a 5.81 ERA over 12 second-half starts, and opponents are hitting .305 against the power right-hander. Penny has struggled against the Padres this year, sporting a 9.00 ERA in 15 innings against them. That said, he’s won 16 games so he must be doing something right.
For the Pads, Jake Peavy has a 3.77 ERA in the second half of the season. Perhaps more importantly, he’s cut his homers way down, allowing just 7 in 76 1/3 innings. His run support still isn’t the greatest (his 5-6 record since the All-Star break is worse than Penny’s despite having an ERA that is lower by two full points), but at least he’s a lot closer to “vintage Peavy” than what we saw earlier in the year.
Padres have taken two out of the first three at Chavez Ravine to reclaim the NL West lead. Worst case, they leave LA with a split and just a half game back in the division. But nobody is thinking about a split right now.
Wild card is a nice Plan B, but the division is the real prize. Time to go get it. As we like to say around here, winning starts with beginning.
I am gonna go throw up. Right back where we started. I wanna cry and then throw up.
You’ve got to be shittin’ me. 7 HR in the game, 5 in the last 2 innings, the last one while Hoffman sits on the bench after throwing only 11 pitches.
Geoff, excuse the profanity, but fuck this motherfuckin’ team. Fuck them in both ears.
Well on the positive side of things, we have a nice lead in the wild card race since Philly, Florida and Cincy lost today.
Let’s hear it for Plan B!
Thank you, Philly and San Francisco!
Before we all jump off the cliff together, remember that we just split in LA and come home 1/2 game out of first. Call it a mulligan and take it out on the D’backs tomorrow.
Still, that really sucks.
I still woulda used Cassidy unless he was unavailable. I mean, he’s been closing in AAA for the past two months or so.
anyone have a dog I can kick?
I guess all of those saves for Cassidy in Portland don’t mean anything to Bochy when you have Senor Rubber Arm in the ‘pen… That’s all I am going to say other than I hope the Dodgers don’t parlay this into a sweep of the Bucs while we drop two of three to the Snakes…
epic game. I’m sorry we were on the wrong end of it.
Well, not the whole team. Position players excused.
[silence]…
I couldn’t agree more Tom. Right now I can’t even look at the team I am so just disappointed.
Unless Hoffman was hurt, that’s unforgivable to not use him again.
It’s okay, we’ll bounce back tomorrow. We always do.
Plenty of blame to go around in the much vaunted bullpen.
Like Geoff said, it’s still a split. Let’s get out to the park tomorrow and support our team down the stretch.
Expect the Dogs to go on a roll from here. A killer.
Hoffy’s blown saves usually come in small bunches, we can’t afford that now
Not to be obnoxiously optimistic in the face of tragic disappointment, but… we’ll get ‘em back in the NLCS.
Oh, who am I kidding?
Lots of questionable (read f-ing ridiculous) moves by Bochy tonite. He has got to go.
13-5 13-5 13-5…
KT has to know by now that you can’t put a crappy veteran on this team because Bochy will use him at the worst possible time. There’s no reason to put Seanez in when he had Cassidy available or could have left Hoffman in.
But, I’ll see you all at the park. I’ve got tickets for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. We’ve seen this team come back from all kinds of adversity. We’ll see if they’ve got a run left in them.
Some of Boch’s choices. Some sub-par performances.
Damndest game I’ve seen, certainly in the regular season.
Ouch
Matty is wasted. He sounds apoplectic. I think he feels worse than I do, and I didn’t think that was possible.
I missed the last 3 innings tonight. What happened? Did we win?
7-2 in Dodgers land. Plenty left to smile about.
I don’t buy that the Dodgers are going to go on a run now. Their bullpen was just as bad as ours, they just had last ups. Our guys showed a lot of heart, something that was missing earlier in the year. We had two 10+ run games in the series, the bats are hot at the right time of the year.
Re 655, SDPG is joking about Germany bombing Pearl Harbor, right?
I agree Anthony. This seemed like a pretty crazy, fluky win, and certainly the Padres’ bats were just as hot as the Dodgers’. To hit homers like that is insane – you can’t do that in batting practice even. And, hey, in the future maybe the Padres’ starting pitcher can get through 6 and Cla can finish the game from there.
#708. It’s a famouse quote from “Animal House.” Rent the movie, you’ll love it.
Sorry, #780
Every pitcher save Meredith seemed to crumble under the pressure tonight.
So if the playoffs were decided tonight… CBS Sportsline says:
Dodgers at Mets
Padres at Cardinals
Is that bad? =)
that’s something to be concerned about
We have the worst good bullpen I have ever seen. I don’t trust anyone but Cla. Usually Trevor, but he has his nights…
Also did anyone notice that the four homers in the ninth were all absolutely crushed? There were no wall-scrapers, they all cleared the fence by plenty.
Not even the curse could save us tonight. Thank god there’s a game tomorrow night.
787. That happens sometimes when a big lead is built and then evaporates. The bullpen thinks the game is over and mentally checks out sometimes.
788: I think you hit the nail on the head. I’m sure they were joking around in the pen and all of a sudden everything changed.
Also tomorrow is absolutely a must-win game. Almost as big as any game in this series, if not bigger. Clay needs another great, seven or eight inning performance. We CANNOT let this turn into a losing streak and let it get in our heads. If we don’t bounce back quickly we are in BIG trouble.
You know, I’m one of the unofficial leaders of the dump Bochy movement (and he gave us some more ammo tonight), but I really don’t feel too bad right now, conbsidering. RC is right – that was EPIC! We’ll remember that one forever. I f’n love the game – and this is exactly why. And it was the Dodgers who HAD to have it. Yes, it would have been nice to bury ‘em a little. And we should have, but we got the split, we’re still in the catbird seat for a playoff spot… and they’re coming home. I’ll be out at the park Wednesday – go get ‘em, boys!
I’ll take the Cards in the playoffs with their current lineup. They don’t have anyone left but Carpenter.
coolstandings.com still gives us better chances at taking the division than LA. Of course that doesn’t consider the psychological effect this game could have on us. Hopefully Clay steps up and puts those fears to rest tomorrow.
793. This team bounces back like no other. They are serious when they about how resilient the team is.
RE 783. Oh, yeah. I haven’t seen Animal House in a long time (and since I read SDPG’s post after the collapse, didn’t get the right mood). Apologies SDPG…Thanks LaMar
re #792. We see them before October too…while the Dodgers get the Giants with a chip on their shoulder.
Gang, this is how Dodger fans felt April 30th. Time to see what we are made of now. I like our chances, I really do. But nothing is ever guaranteed in baseball. Football? Basketball? ANY game with a time clock? Over. But not baseball.
I’ll be at the ballpark from Wednesday thru Sunday and we are already looking at going to Arizona for the final day, although that is not a done deal…
Oh…and I got the first ever 500th IGD post in the history of Ducksnorts…that was kinda cool…
That wouldn’t be the playoff matchups, with the Padres in second. The Padres would play the Mets in the first round.
We’re two games behind St Louis. As important as winning the West is, I think finishing ahead of the Cards and getting home-field advantage is just as huge. I realize how we’ve been barely mediocre at home and pretty good on the road, but having Game 1 at Petco instead of at Busch makes it tougher for St Louis. The Cardinals are a lot better at home than we are on the road. So I’ve been paying as much attention to them the past few weeks as I have the Phillies and Giants.
Just throwing that out there.
800 – woohoo – 800