Padres Destroy Braves, Pythagoras

Who saw that coming? The Braves certainly didn’t. Petco Park is supposed to suppress offense, not play host to 17-2 thumpings. That’ll muck up the ol’ Pythagorean record for a while.

Five Padres knocked two or more hits, five scored two or more runs, and five drove in two or more. They went 10-for-17 with RISP.

A 10-run fourth? Clearly I should whine about the weather more often.

My only real complaint is with Kevin Correia’s nibbling. How do you walk Martin Prado in the third after jumping ahead in the count, 0-2, with Chipper Jones on deck? Then again, Correia drove in as many runs as he allowed, so we’ll cut him some slack.

Will Venable and Kyle Blanks went yard. Venable’s ball was crushed. Have I mentioned lately that it’s good to have guys in the lineup that aren’t even a little intimidated by their home park? Because if I haven’t, I should. And I just did.

In terms of history, Monday afternoon’s outburst represents the fifth highest single-game run total ever for the Padres. It ranks second among home games, exceeded only by an 18-2 victory over Florida on August 23, 2002, at Qualcomm Stadium. Jake Peavy was the beneficiary in that one, with Bubba Trammell leading the offensive charge.

The fourth-inning barrage was fun to watch. My favorite part came after Chase Headley drove home Blanks (who really needs to slide there; Jason Heyward apparently comes equipped with a shoulder-mounted howitzer). As Blanks headed back toward the dugout, The Chicken entertained fans by jumping around on top of said dugout. Meanwhile, Mat Latos entertained himself by flicking sunflower seeds at The Chicken.

It was that kind of inning, and that kind of game.

Right-hander Adam Russell, who should have made the Opening Day roster, was recalled from Triple-A Portland to replace the injured Chris Young. Russell put the lid on the garbage can, tossing two perfect innings and fanning three of the six batters he faced.

Dick Enberg was in vintage form. He may stumble over the occasional name, but with the stories he tells, who even cares?

At one point, with the game well in hand, the guys in the booth started talking about Braves backup catcher David Ross (who once spent about 10 minutes in a Padres uniform). Mark Grant noted that Ross had carved out a nice niche for himself and invoked the name of Jamie Quirk as someone who hung around the big leagues for a long time in that role.

Enberg responded with tales of Moe Berg, about whom Enberg claimed he once tried to pen a screenplay. Enberg also talked about the time he hitchhiked to Milwaukee and saw Warren Spahn pitch against Robin Roberts at County Stadium. That would be one of these four games:

Maybe someday Enberg will tell us more about that game. Or other games. Or maybe he’ll keep dogging Tony Gwynn about the fact that Gwynn never hit for the cycle.

And maybe the Padres will keep scoring runs at home. And winning.

Sorry, got carried away there. It was a fun game.

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5 Responses »

  1. Funny, while watching the game, all I could think about was the impact on the Padres Pythagorean record. After yesterday’s game the NL West is the only division in which all the teams have a positive run differential. It must be that the NL West is the majors best division!

  2. Did you notice your being linked to on ESPN’s Power Rankings?
    http://espn.go.com/mlb/powerrankings

  3. A Moe Berg screenplay would be fantastic. I see it being the perfect Jason Schwartzman vehicle on his way to an Oscar nomination.

  4. In one game, the Padres run-diff went from -10 to +5. Crazy.

    How about the 11-pitch battle between Blanks and Reyes. Kyle looked to have control of the zone while he was looking lost in the last series.

    Good game to open home for the season.

  5. @Daniel: NL West is the majors best division? Of course, it’s the only reasonable explanation!

    @Loren: Yes. In fact, I am contributing the Padres comments this season, so if you ever find them lacking, please let me know and I’ll try to do better next time.

    @Dex: I like your thinking. We should totally make it happen.

    @Didi: Thanks for mentioning the Blanks at-bat. Granted, Reyes isn’t very good, but that was a nice battle.