first pitch: 4:35 p.m. PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Greg Maddux (2-2, 3.96 ERA) vs John Smoltz (4-1, 3.35 ERA)
preview: Padres.com | SI.com
The matchup between former teammates and future Hall of Famers Greg Maddux and John Smoltz is being hyped like crazy, and I think justifiably so. Jay Posner and Tom Krasovic have assembled a nice little tale of the tape over at the San Diego Union-Tribune. Maddux gets the best quote: “I don’t want to hit him. He might hit me back. He throws a lot harder than I do.”
These two pitchers have hooked up three times in the past — once in 1990, twice in 1992. All three have resulted in a shutout for one of the teams involved, with Smoltz getting the upper hand on two of those occasions:
- May 16, 1990: Braves 4, Cubs 0. Smoltz went the distance, allowing five hits and striking out nine. He and Maddux are the only players from this game who remain active. Ryne Sandberg, who had one of the Cubs’ five hits, is in the Hall of Fame.
- July 5, 1992: Cubs 8, Braves 0. Deion Sanders led off for Atlanta and struck out all three times he faced Maddux, who worked seven innings before turning the game over to Paul Assenmacher and current Padres broadcaster Bob Scanlan.
- July 10, 1992: Braves 4, Cubs 0. Smoltz tossed a four-hitter. Two of the hits came off the bat of ex-Padre (yep, you can look it up) Rick Wilkins.
Of course we want a Padres victory tonight, but savor this one no matter how it unfolds. Matchups like these don’t happen every day or even every year.
148: The other team twice failed to score a runner from third with one out. One inning they scored it with a two out hit.
I’m gonna quit eating peanuts, peaches, and stop wearing cotton.
133: The frustrating thing is that every game we’ve lost on this trip, we should have won.
In fact, when was the last time we lost a game by more than 1 run. I think you have to go back before the last Dodgers series.
That’s whats frustrating and makes you lose faith. Because this team has the talent, but they are unable to get it clicking on all cylinders thus far.
Nice freaking work Cameron.
McCann makes the catch Piazza could not last year vs St. Louis
Cameron is brutal.
Lame
Ack!
Thanks a lot, Seattle. Giving up Soriano for Horacio Ramirez?
This is just getting unreal. What happened to the magic of MAy?
god damn it
Unfreaking believable.
And we get Hudson tomorrow, yay.
What the hell is it going to take to get this team to produce offenisvely? Our bullpen has been saving us thus far and now that they’re starting to have problems, our severe lack of offense is becoming a huge issue.
I am glad it is a day game tomorrow, less time to dwell on this.
162: What’s more frustrating about the lack of offense is that people on our team have shown flashes of brilliance, but they can’t keep it consistent.
162 – it’s not even that the bullpen is having severe problems. With the exception of the twin double-D bombs Linebrink gave up vs Florida, it’s just the other team scratching across a run or two in a game where we should be up by 3 or 4 runs.
#148: I am always up for a challenge.
#153: Bingo. The amount of talent on this team is what makes the poor play so frustrating. This isn’t a bunch of scrubs we’re running out there.
I’d like to see our guys play with some pride tomorrow.
Okay, here’s a happy thought: It’s awesome that we’re all mad as hell that this team is 18-16. Did that even seem possible 5 years ago?
167: lol, good point. I know our expectations are high, but it’s because they have the talent to play better than they are.
The last game we lost by more than one run was April 26 at Arizona (we lost 4-7). Since that time, we’re 6-6, with each of those losses being by one run.
168: And we’ve actually only had 2 one run wins in that time. Of course, the most lopsided win was by 4 runs, so everything has still been close. I guess that’s what we signed up for with this team.
169: Good point. These losses don’t piss me off so much because my team sucks. These losses really get to me because it’s a simple matter of us not getting it done when it matters. Whether it’s a mental mistake (Jake’s windup, Adrian’s mis-handling of the bunt, LaForest’s inability to catch a ball) or just the total inability to score runs, it makes for very frustrating games.
I feel bad for my fiance because these past two days have been brutal on me. Tough, tough, tough losses.
Here’s a note from WC @ BP re: Roberts …
The Giants are worried that Dave Roberts may be headed to the DL with an elbow issue. Roberts first injured the elbow about ten days ago in Colorado, though no one has publicly stated exactly how the injury occurred. The team is worried that there are bone chips or spurs, and Roberts told MLB.com that he can’t straighten it to throw nor bend it to hit, which sounds like a problem, given that he’s expected to do those things. The speedy center fielder will have an MRI, and it sounds like the team is ready to hear that Roberts will need surgery. Unlike Chris Carpenter, Roberts should be back quickly. You may remember Rich Aurilia having similar surgery a few years back and only missing the minimum 15 days. Roberts could do the same, though a month is the timeframe you normally anticipate for recovery.
… and it is odd that, in this condition, he hit an HR today …
Kyle Blanks hit a HR tonight … with a man on base!
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2007_05_09_lesafa_rcqafa_1
BREAKING NEWS:
The bats belonging to the San Diego Padres have finally arrived in Atlanta airport after they were mistakenly placed on an airplane destined for Europe. This couldn’t have come at a better time, as the Padres will square off against Tim Hudson in Thursday’s series finally. Hudson has found his Cy Young form this year and the Padres will need their bats in order to get any kind of base hit.
Hudson today?? Oh, that’s not good