first pitch: 4:10 p.m., PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Clay Hensley (7-8, 4.33 ERA) vs Pedro Martinez (8-4, 3.48 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com | ESPN
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I’m happy for Mike Piazza that he received such a warm welcome in his first game at Shea Stadium since leaving the Mets, but I think he and I would prefer a win. The Padres go up against Pedro Martinez on Wednesday. Current Pads are hitting .286/.318/.582 against Martinez in 158 at-bats. Piazza (.348/.375/.913 in 23 AB) and Dave Roberts (.444/.500/1.000 in 9 AB) have done the most damage among active players. The rehabbing Ryan Klesko (.344/.400/.813 in 32 AB) owns Martinez, but that doesn’t do any good.
The Dodgers and their stretch-run acquisitions have reeled off 11 straight wins and are just a half-game back of the Padres. It’s the second week of August — time to start playing with some sense of urgency. Go Pads!
Is Greene back?
Nope Blummer is at SS
Play ball!
That could have turned really ugly. Good job settling down by Clay.
That was serious hustle from Milledge. He was on second by the time Piazza picked up the bunt and never stopped until he got to third.
Clay is not long for this game, I think.
Beltran is as clueless against clay as he looked dominant against woody last night.
3 bloop hits score runs for the Mets.
Piazza gets a curtain call on the opposing team. Wow.
That reception for Piazza hitting a dinger against them was amazing. That guy’s a hero in New York.
Down on the Farm … Dewon didn’t walk anybody in 7 IP … http://tinyurl.com/lryue … but he was hit-able (9 H, 5 ER) … only 3 K’s …
Thru 5 full …
Pitches-strikes – C Hensley 96-57; P Martinez 68-41.
Ground balls-fly balls – C Hensley 6-2; P Martinez 11-3.
Batters faced – C Hensley 27; P Martinez 19.
… 4-1 Mets.
4-2 actually. We just need to hold them and get Piazza a couple more ABs against Pedro.
You asked for it … you got it … Piazza now up in top of 8th with 2-on!
… and Pedro’s pitch counts are probably 100 for the game, 10 for the inning …
Wow, that was nearly #3
pfeh … – A. Heilman relieved P. Martinez
Will Heilman pitch to Adrian … or is he just a ROOGY
ah, the ol’ IBB … shoulda seen it comin’ … ball’s in Walker’s court now!
T. Walker popped out to shallow center
Yikes, what happened to DR?
Randy Johnson tonight … no-no thru 6 … then can’t get anybody out in 7th … eh, he’s an old man …
Here’s my favorite YouTube … http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eifvMlsYnfY … Trevor Time … ah, the good ol’ days
All this adoration for Piazza made me look something up … I didn’t realize Piazza played more for the Mets than the Dodgers … 972 vs 726 game and 3478 vs 2707 ABs … so there ya go! He’s still a blue-blood if ya ask me … and you know how I feel ’bout dem!
I think Josh Barfield’s HR is still going.
by the way I thought the slider from Wagner on Johnson was still outside. but this game was worse. but it also is another example of Padres baseball good game, but they lost. They had chances late and Piazza couldn’t carry them.
Bard in person still looks good, I’m surprised by Blum. He was putting balls out in BP over the RF fence ..
The strike zone seemed inconsistent. That said, the last pitch was outside of the actual strike zone.
Enjoyed the game thoroughly last night, what a beautiful night for a game. Ryguy – did look for you with no luck. I did count 11 other visible Padre fans, including a small kid with a “Go Padres” sign. The back did have “Go Mets” on it though.
Piazza’s reception was unreal. He received a resounding amount of applause on each HR, right into Gonzalez ABs. But when he got up the last time he was vociferously BOOO’ed which I didn’t understand at all.
The pitches to Johnson at the end – if the 3-1 pitch is a strike then by definition the final pitch couldn’t have been one. The plate isn’t three feet wide for goodness sake.
Hensley threw some nice junk that kept the Mets off balance, but when they hit him it seemed everything they hit was a laser.
First chance to see Meredith, man he has one funky delivery.
Walker wasn’t challenged at 3B and looked fairly comfortable there.
Finally, Adrian Gonzalez was just stellar at first. Was really excited to see him and he did not disappoint. He scooped at least three, had a beautiful diving play and was all around fantastic in the field.
Hopefully the Pads can make it to the playoffs so I could maybe go back again this year!
Have to concur on the calls against Johnson. It was, it seemed to me, a case of a veteran pitcher getting the benefit against a rookie hitter. Not fair, but one of those baseball things.
Caught Web Gems after the Padres game and Barfield’s play didn’t make the cut! I couldn’t believe it. Darn ESPN/East Coast bias or something. I know it was LoDuca running, but just to get to that ball was phenomenal range, then he made the throw with just one step. And a strong, accurate throw it was, too.
Pat – what “Barfield play” are you talking about? I’m wondering if you’re talking about yesterday’s (8/8) game? There’s 8 clips from yesterday’s game posted at mlb.com … http://tinyurl.com/s7yqo … none of them indicate anything about Barfield Web Gem candidate … but there is one for the 8/8 game.
Barfield did make a nice play going up the middle last night at the end of the game. I think it was in the 8th?
Yes, it was in the 8th last night on a ground ball up the middle by LoDuca. Josh got to it behind second base, and with one step planted, leaped, turned in mid-air, and threw, on the fly, to Gonzalez.