first pitch: 7:05 p.m., PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Clay Hensley (8-10, 3.94 ERA) vs Bronson Arroyo (10-9, 3.52 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com
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Clay Hensley bounced back from a difficult July with his best month since moving into the rotation. The 1.82 ERA is nice, but what I really like are the 21 strikeouts to 9 walks in August. If you look at his monthly splits, you’ll see that Hensley has been as good as his command. He’s broken the 2:1 K/BB ratio in two different months this season (May and August) and had terrific success both times.
Young pitchers. This is what they do. And if you’re real lucky, they get better while they’re doing it. In that vein, it’s hard not to like Hensley’s 2.61 ERA since the All-Star break and the two homers allowed over 48 1/3 innings during that stretch.
Speaking of gopher balls, Bronson Arroyo has been coughing ‘em up like crazy. As in 2.12 per 9 innings since the All-Star break. He’s also got those goofy Weaveresque lefty/righty splits. Lefties are hitting .306/.354/.548 against Arroyo this year, while righties are at .208/.251/.303. As a former Spanish teacher of mine would say, “Significant gap!” This also might help explain why the Padres recalled Terrmel Sledge before tonight’s contest.
As Reds manager Jerry Narron notes, “it’s basically a 30-game season.” Time to make things happen. Go Padres!
Ok…I’ll lead us off tonight… slap double to left drives in the Reds first run after a stolen base… Padres go down easily in the botttom of the first..
Same old Padres…
3 balls in a row crushed. I have a feeling Dunn is going to hit one about 500 feet at some point tonight.
Yikes, just got home from dinner. This isn’t good.
Nope…Hensley hasn’t looked very good so far… and of course our offense looks like they’re afraid to hit the ball..
Nice grab by Branyan going into the stands to close out the fourth.
We’re on the board. Time to get some more.
A big two out hit here from Sledge would be nice…
Ok…that’s not bad…how about a big 2 out hit from Roberts here?
Roberts for team MVP!
ok..one more time..how about a big 2 out hit from Giles…
The Reds bullpen must really be awful. Arroyo should be gone.
well..shoot..i couldn’t type in how about a 2 out hit from Walker fast enough… I’ll take the blame for him not getting a hit. But at least we’re in the game
Let’s just see how quickly we can give those two runs back..
Welcome to self-destruct mode. Sigh.
Ross would’ve only been out by 10 feet if he makes a decent throw..
The chicken is earning his pay, I just bought a ticket to the game tomorrow.
The Reds announcers just said that if the Padres need to bring in another lefty tonight they can bring in Scott Linebrink. When did he start pitching left handed??
This is depressing…
Why does it seem like every time this team runs into a struggling pitcher they just roll over?
SAN DIEGO (AP) — David “Boomer” Wells blew into his hometown on Friday evening and said he’s all but certain that this will be the last season of his successful, colorful big league career.
Wells, obtained Thursday by San Diego from the Boston Red Sox for the stretch drive, said he plans to retire regardless if he helps get the Padres into the playoffs.
SS Khalil Greene, on the disabled list since Aug. 18 with a sprained left middle finger, took some swings Friday but felt uncomfortable, manager Bruce Bochy said. “That’s discouraging news,” Bochy said.
This is really a hard team to follow. I went to tonight’s game, full of optimism and confidence that we’d turned things around. Nope.
Through three innings, our sinker balling specialist, Clay Hensley, had zero ground ball outs. I don’t think it was until the 4th that he got a ground ball out. They were crushing the ball against Clay.
We hit the ball hard several times tonight, all right at somebody. Somehow, we’ve got to figure out how to score at home. It wasn’t this hard to score at home, even when I was married. (SIGH!)
That trade for Wells already looks better — and he won’t even pitch until Sunday.
Not that one poor game makes Hensley obsolete — I still like him plenty — but if it did come down to a final game for the title or a one game playoff, Bochy now has the option of 3 top starters going on short rest, if he wished. For instance, Peavy pitches on 3 days rest, and Wells and Young start the playoffs, allowing Peavy to rest. Nice to have a lefty starter, too.
OK, I’m getting very far ahead here, but the scenarios where Wells could help the Pads in a very tight wild-card race are numerous.
Peavy has never looked good on short rest in fact he does better with more time off. But I do feel better having Boomer in the rotation as I’m sure the Pads do.
I take full blame for Hensley’s poor outing. My declarations that Hensley should be the number 3 starter in the playoffs clearly jinxed him. Let me just say now that I think Peavy is struggling horribly and is going to be lit up. Also, David Wells is fat and couldn’t retire my mother.
BB, thanks for being accountable.
This is really depressing, we can not win at petco. Is it the return of the curse or do our hittings just suck. and of course, the Dodgers one. Its looking more and more like a fight for the wildcard and there is a lot of competition for that. We just can not hit. Plain and simple. Gee, that like saying the changers have a great defense but no offense or Tiger Woods can drive the ball but can’t putt. Whatever.
I pin my hopes on winning the series. We have 10 series left and we better win em all to have a chance. KT ruined this club by releasing vinny.
If only we still had Vinny. His lightning fast bat would have sparked our lineup, we’d be averaging 6 or 7 runs a game. Our home record would be stellar. We’d be fighting the Mets for homefield advantage. Khalil wouldn’t be injured and actually would have improved upon his rookie season. Clay would still be a groundball pitcher. Peavy would be tearing it up. KT wouldn’t be trading away our only trade bait for a 43 year old 6 start rental. Boch wouldn’t have Mike Cameron sacrifice bunting. Oh man, I wish we still had Vinny, he was so amazing. Vinny, Vinny, Vinny, oh how I miss your .579 OPS, .547 with runners on, .491 with them in scoring position.
Well, Vinny symbolizes the failure of KT to get e legit 3b and marks the downfall of the team, which until that point was leading the West. I’m merely pointing out that since Vinny departure the Padres have stuggled mightly. Its a coincidence but also a convient marker, like that steve Garvey HR, the bad strike call against the Yanks in the WS, Hernandez not blocking the plate last year. Vinny is a symbol through 162 games of this season of the PAdres problems and the mistakes made by KT. Vinny couldnt hit and neight can the Padres.
I’m with you, Dan, I feel acutely frustrated at the Padres from top to bottom. And it looks like Khalil ain’t coming back because his finger feels uncormfortable, not that he could help out hitting. And Chirst, last time I checked, Bomber wasn’t much of a hitter. Its looking like it won’t happen this year, but we shall see. Gotta win this series with the Reds and the fricking dodgers need to cool off.
Can we save the bitching at least until we’re not leading the Wild Card?
Thanks, Richard. Point well taken.
Huge game by Peavy, and nice to have Wells going tomorrow. Just don’t expect a no-hitter — the guy isn’t the Messiah. He’ll give us 6, maybe 7, and keep us in the ballgame. Not sure we’d have had the confidence to say that with too many other starters available at this point in the season once Chan Ho went down. Anyway, to win, I hate to say it — we’ll still need to score some runs.