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Tuesday was an eventful day for the San Diego Padres in many respects. First, President and CEO Tom Garfinkel resigned, then the club announced the signing of their 2013 first-round draft pick, Hunter Renfroe, and finally, the Friars broke a ten-game losing skid by beating the Colorado Rockies 2-1 with a complete game effort from starter Eric Stults.
Stults was exactly what the Padres needed, with a bull pen that had been taxed and a team in need of a hero. All Eric did was put the club squarely on his back and pitch shut-out ball into the ninth inning, giving up the one run in the last frame before closing it out.
It’s great to see the fan-base so excited off of a single win. It’s also a little dangerous to think that this one win is going to turn things around for the Padres. But at least, for the moment, they stopped the bleeding.
While Rockies starter Jhoulys Chacin is quite talented, he isn’t invincible, and Padres bats had plenty of chances against him. The Padres left more than enough runners stranded against Chacin and Rockies relief pitching, pounding out nine hits and garnering a couple of walks in key situations, and probably should have scored far more than two runs.
In the end, it doesn’t matter because a win is a win, but the Padres will need to turn this into something that reverses the recent trend. It isn’t enough to be 6 1/2 games out of the division lead, the Padres need to get to .500 as fast as they can to regain the respect they earned in June.
Offensively, Alexi Amarista had a good evening at the plate. Manager Buddy Black in the post-game press conference admitted that Amarista is streaky with the bat, but when Alexi is on, Buddy will go with him in the lineup.
Amarista singled and tripled and drove in both runs for the Padres. Everth Cabrera, who is bound for the All-Star Game next week, also added two hits including a double.
The important thing for the Padres is to keep this momentum going. Otherwise, the Padres will turn into sellers rather than buyers at the trade deadline in August – something that Josh Burns has hinted at in recent days – and the 2013 season will turn into nothing more than a prep-season for 2014.
Through the injuries and ups and downs, it’s a safe bet that Padres fans would be highly disappointed in that path.
Notes:
Yonder Alonso was rehabbing in AAA Tucson on Tuesday and went 4 for 4 if you want something to look forward to. No word if Yonder will return to the Padres this home stand before the All-Star break, but if Tuesday evening is any indication, he’ll be back as soon as the Padres can manage to get him into their lineup.
The relief pitching carousel continues as the Friars sent down Tyler Ross and brought up Miles Mikolas. Ross is being sent down in order to stretch out and get back into a starting role again, while Mikolas has been very effective in relief in Tucson. There is still no starter named to take the place of Robbie Erlin on Friday, who was sent back down to AAA to work on some things. Could be that Tim Stauffer is tapped to get a start. But more likely, it will be someone in the minors who is on a regular starting schedule to pitch deep. Maybe someone in the minors, even Anthony Bass.
Wednesday, the Rockies and Padres play the rubber game of the three-game series. Andrew Cashner (5-4, 3.82) will go for the Padres and face the Rockies Jorge De La Rosa (8-4, 3.19). Game time is at 7:10 PM PDST. Listen in on 1090 AM for radio or watch on Fox Sports San Diego. Unless you have a power outage or else subscribe to Time Warner Cable. Little difference in that boat, you’re still blacked out.
Tuesday was an eventful day for the San Diego Padres in many respects. First, President and CEO Tom Garfinkel resigned, then the club announced the signing of their 2013 first-round draft pick, Hunter Renfroe, and finally, the Friars broke a ten-game losing skid by beating the Colorado Rockies 2-1 with a complete game effort from starter Eric Stults.
Stults was exactly what the Padres needed, with a bull pen that had been taxed and a team in need of a hero. All Eric did was put the club squarely on his back and pitch shut-out ball into the ninth inning, giving up the one run in the last frame before closing it out.
It’s great to see the fan-base so excited off of a single win. It’s also a little dangerous to think that this one win is going to turn things around for the Padres. But at least, for the moment, they stopped the bleeding.
While Rockies starter Jhoulys Chacin is quite talented, he isn’t invincible, and Padres bats had plenty of chances against him. The Padres left more than enough runners stranded against Chacin and Rockies relief pitching, pounding out nine hits and garnering a couple of walks in key situations, and probably should have scored far more than two runs.
In the end, it doesn’t matter because a win is a win, but the Padres will need to turn this into something that reverses the recent trend. It isn’t enough to be 6 1/2 games out of the division lead, the Padres need to get to .500 as fast as they can to regain the respect they earned in June.
Offensively, Alexi Amarista had a good evening at the plate. Manager Buddy Black in the post-game press conference admitted that Amarista is streaky with the bat, but when Alexi is on, Buddy will go with him in the lineup.
Amarista singled and tripled and drove in both runs for the Padres. Everth Cabrera, who is bound for the All-Star Game next week, also added two hits including a double.
The important thing for the Padres is to keep this momentum going. Otherwise, the Padres will turn into sellers rather than buyers at the trade deadline in August – something that Josh Burns has hinted at in recent days – and the 2013 season will turn into nothing more than a prep-season for 2014.
Through the injuries and ups and downs, it’s a safe bet that Padres fans would be highly disappointed in that path.
Notes:
Yonder Alonso was rehabbing in AAA Tucson on Tuesday and went 4 for 4 if you want something to look forward to. No word if Yonder will return to the Padres this home stand before the All-Star break, but if Tuesday evening is any indication, he’ll be back as soon as the Padres can manage to get him into their lineup.
The relief pitching carousel continues as the Friars sent down Tyler Ross and brought up Miles Mikolas. Ross is being sent down in order to stretch out and get back into a starting role again, while Mikolas has been very effective in relief in Tucson. There is still no starter named to take the place of Robbie Erlin on Friday, who was sent back down to AAA to work on some things. Could be that Tim Stauffer is tapped to get a start. But more likely, it will be someone in the minors who is on a regular starting schedule to pitch deep. Maybe someone in the minors, even Anthony Bass.
Wednesday, the Rockies and Padres play the rubber game of the three-game series. Andrew Cashner (5-4, 3.82) will go for the Padres and face the Rockies Jorge De La Rosa (8-4, 3.19). Game time is at 7:10 PM PDST. Listen in on 1090 AM for radio or watch on Fox Sports San Diego. Unless you have a power outage or else subscribe to Time Warner Cable. Little difference in that boat, you’re still blacked out.