first pitch: 1:05 p.m., PT
television: Channel 4SD
matchup: Chris Young (9-5, 3.80 ERA) vs Miguel Batista (10-5, 4.67 ERA)
previews: Padres.com | SI.com | ESPN
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Clay Hensley is hurt, missing Saturday’s scheduled start. Khalil Greene has been placed on the 15-day DL, leaving the Padres without a shortstop. The left side of the infield now consists of three second basemen. Here’s how each of them has fared over his past 600 (give or take a few) big-league plate appearances:
- Mark Bellhorn: .197/.308/.355
- Geoff Blum: .230/.292/.349
- Todd Walker: .293/.361/.422
What this doesn’t show, of course, is that Walker has committed more errors (5) in 74 innings than Eric Chavez has (3) in 896 innings. When I see a player with a .792 fielding percentage, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Can you smell the championship yet?
But wait, there’s more good news: The Padres are now 29-36 at Petco Park, having been outscored at home, 295-253. The team is 6-12 in August. Holy smokes, the Pads have allowed 28 stolen bases in 18 games this month? Wow, that’s a bit alarming even to someone like me, who doesn’t place a lot of emphasis on stolen bases.
Brian Giles (.270/.432/.444) is having a nice August. So are Jake Peavy (2.39 ERA in 26.1 IP) and Cla Meredith (0.00 ERA in 9.2 IP). Meredith is a stud. Not to rub in, but did you see that the Red Sox have sent $100,000 to the Pads to complete the deal that brought him and Josh Bard to San Diego in exchange for a steaming pile of shaving cream? As Rick Sutcliffe would say, “That is some kind o’ nice.”
Ducksnorts meetup today at Petco Park, so many of the regulars (myself included) won’t be chatting for this one. To the rest of you, pick up the slack for us.
Go Padres!
I’m going to the game and so far we are 0-3 this season. Hopefully that will change today. I’m going with some Giant fans who, for some reason, really love the Padres. Go Padres.
GY and rest of Ducksnort crowd: Sorry I can’t make it to the meet up today, but watching the Padres right now is like having a little flesh pulled from my body with each at bat. An exaggeration? Maybe. I need a respite.
I am a bit older than the rest of you and in answer to a question yesterday about older play-by-play guys, I can, embarrassingly, go back to my childhood and remember “Game of the Week” with Dizzy Dean, Pee Wee Reese and a young kid named Jerry Coleman. If it is any consolation, Dizzy Dean didn’t usually have a clue who the batter was, who the teams were or, perhaps the score. Stats? Strategy? Nah, he’d just go into an old war story. (The “current” Jerry Coleman is quickly becoming the old Dizzy Dean.) Through it all, however, has been the resonating voice of Vin Scully. If you think about it, Vin Scully seldom does strategy, stats or analysis. Instead, Vinny can find the drama in anything. Current Padres’ play would present the challenge of a lifetime for him. Perhaps I’ll listen during our home stand and see how he fares. Or, maybe, I’ll still be taking a break.
Interesting lineup today. Bochy goes Roberts, Giles, Walker, Piazza, Cameron, Gonzalez, Blum, Barfield, Young. He doesn’t go with the matchup and play Bellhorn against Batista.
The lineup does look strange…but why not…i’m not opposed to having him draw the lineup out of a hat at this point…
Anyone know what happened to Chris Young? Why is he out of the game already?
Young is out of the game after throwing a 1-2-3 first inning. Adkins in.
I heard Bochy on the radio before the game talking about Young and a foot injury that had been bothering him, but he said that it was ok today. Maybe he reinjured it in the first inning…
Right rhomboid strain for Young.
Adkins pitches two scoreless.
Hensley recovers from his butthurt and gives up a run in the fourth on an error by . . . Blum (bet you thought I’d say Walker). Pitches a scoreless fifth.
Still only one hit for the Padres through 4 – an opposite field double by Giles
Giles gets an RBI single to tie up the score in the bottom of the fifth. A small army is left on base by Piazza.
Clay gets through the 6th, working around a 2 out double by Gonzalez. He is dealing right now.
SAN DIEGO (AP) – San Diego pitcher Chris Young left Sunday’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first inning with a strained back muscle.
Young faced three batters in the inning when he allowed a leadoff single to Eric Byrnes. Young, who threw 12 pitches, then picked Byrnes off first base. He retired the next two batters and did not come out for the second inning. Young, 9-5 with a 3.80 ERA, was replaced by Jon Adkins.
well..why not..everyone else on the team that is important seems to be hurt..why not Chris Young as well.
That was cool.
Giles explained on the postgame show is that he has been having difficulty staying on his back leg and allowing the pitches to travel further into the zone, so that he can drive them. He said he is working on this in batting practice and feels good about it, although he hadn’t been seeing results (until today).
Giles has had left leg injuries; that may have something to do with an unexpectedly bad offensive season to this point.
Just returned from the game. Talk about RISP. The Padres had a ton, very frustrating game, but we did win. Not sue why Young left, but for the second inning the guy on the mound was a lot shorter then Chris. Hope he is OK. BIG series starting tomorrow when LA comes to town. Go Padres.
It was good to see everyone at the game and great to get a win, even if we did blow a bunch of RISP opportunities again.
This morning I heard Mike Cameron on the Denny Hocking show on 1090 and he admitted the team was pressing with RISP. He also said he wanted to do something to pick the guys up and get them going so it was neat to see him deliver.
Bochy gets a lot of heat for his bad moves but I’d like to point out one good move he made today. When Young couldn’t continue he put in Adkins for two innings, until the pitcher’s spot came up and he could pinch hit. Then he put Hensley in for a longer stint. If he went to Hensley first he wouldn’t have been able to pinch hit when he did. It ended up not making a difference because Bowen made an out but I thought it was a pretty astute move. By putting in his short man first he was able to slightly increase his chances of scoring a run early in the game. Admittedly it was a minor move but I think a good example of one of the things Bochy does well.
Assuming that was the logic behind the move, it was a good one.
Hensley needed extra time to get ready so that probably had a lot to do with it too. Either way it worked out great as both Adkins and Hensley did a terrific job. I don’t know what Melvin was thinking leaving Batista in to pitch to Piazza with the bases loaded when he had thrown 114 pitches but it worked out for him becaue Piazza GIDP. I just hope Mike didn’t hurt himself on that awful slide into first.
That was probably one of the ugliest slides that I have seen. It caused me to get up and begin yelling at the TV, “What were you thinking?” (much to the consternation of my wife). I appreciate Piazza’s effort and hustle–he always seems to be going 100% to first, but that was a stupid play. We’re so lucky that he isn’t hurt.
He isn’t, right?
Youn’g's out with a strained shoulder. Hopefully, he won’t have to go on the DL.
Giles is really starting to heat up it seems.
Paul, you weren’t the only one. I was at the game with the DS group and I was yelling the same thing at him. Great hustle, but don’t be stupid, Mike.