Sunday, April 13, 2008

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Dodger Stadium

So, I'll take the push on my parlay. Padres did win 2 of 3 but I picked the wrong pitchers. A great sign on Friday night to get the win when Peavy didn't have his ace stuff. That's a huge win. As for Saturday, what is there to say other than "mama said they'd be days like this."

Chris Young right now cannot find the strike-zone. His 12 walks so far in 2008 is good enough (or would it be bad enough?) for the third highest walks allowed total in the Majors. It's worth mentioning he has some good company at the top of that list in Fausto Carmon, Dice K and Matt Cain. The short term problem of these walks is what happened on Saturday night. Hitters counts, base-runners on and a 3 inning outing the results in a Padres loss. The long term problems are a bigger concern. Chris Young's pitch counts have consistently been high since his been a Padre and he rarely if ever makes it into the 7th inning. This resulted last year in a DL stint in the midst of a Cy Young campaign. Needless to say, CY's next start will be viewed at closely at LCB as Young has walked more than 3 batters in his first 3 starts.

Sunday was not for the casual fan. 1-0 win for the Padres with the lone run coming on a sac fly. Hey, whatever it takes right? A win is a win. Maddux notched win number 349 for his career by throwing 5 innings of shut out ball. Maddux only threw 67 pitches in the game (42 for strikes) and likely could have gone longer if not for the need for some offense (requiring a pinch-hitter) and, I have to think, the temperature. For those not living in Southern California, high 90's were the call of the day here. Not conducive for a 42 year old pitcher.

Khalil Greene was the number 5 Web Gem tonight in Bristol and well earned. That play is why it's ok that he hits .250...well, the homeruns don't hurt either.

Padres have an off day on Monday and then the Rockies head to town for the first time since Number 163...full preview on Tuesday.

Big Thanks to Ashley and Jay for grabbing us a Padres flag at last weekends game. The flag flies proudly in North Park today!

And one final note: Scared Hitless is your inter-school softball champions. The number 3 seed pulled off the upset in come from behind fashion on Sunday. That leaves the Little Blue Pill season, who is on bye this week.

3 comments:

Greg said...

Are we talkin Greg Maddux here? I remember when he hit a homerun at Wrigley - couldn't have been any later than '90.

GTH said...

It is the one and the same. Maddux is 42 and shows little sign of slowing down. He benefits from not relying on power as a pitcher and rather control and strategy in attacking hitters.

Karla said...

Great reading yourr blog post