Covering missing pieces

I know I haven’t been blogging for several days, but I’m happy to get back on track and start talking about the Padres. The last entry was about Everth Cabrera’s dramatic walk-off homerun against the Mets on last Saturday. Unfortunately, my boys could not sweep the Mets at home. Johan Santana on Sunday was just lights out. Still, Padres took three games out of four so I can live with that.

He even helped himself with an RBI single. Mets ended up winning on that day by the score of 5 to 1. There was a VERY scary moment during the game. Homeplate umpire got hit on his head by Padres’ infielder Luis Rodriguez’s hit. Ump was ok but it sure was horrible to watch.

Padres @ Brewers: 8/11-8/13

I wish we can face the Brewers more! OK. They have Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, Mike Cameron, Trevor Hoffman and other great players but for some reason, the Padres can totally crush them. For example, on a normal Tuesday night at Milwaukee, Padres pounded the Brewers BIG TIME.

Clayton Richard was again, solid on the mound. He is just getting better and better everytime when he pitches. Pitching wise was great, but on the offensive side? All I can say was “WOW.”

Padres were just hitting and hitting. Unfortunately, David Eckstein didn’t enjoy the party. He went only 1 for 5 with a single and a run scored. With a total of 13 runs and 22 hits, I couldn’t stop smiling and yelling for 15 minutes. Now that’s what I call a teamwork.

I’m just getting started with Adrian Gonzalez. Holy smokes! He went 6 for 6 in nine innings of baseball, not extras. Watching him doing his job and helping the team to earn a victory got me pumped up. When he was 5 for 5 and up to bat in the ninth inning, I just hoped for a simple base hit. After a clean hit between first and second, I literally clapped for him. I mean, Adrian Gonzalez is now the very first Padre to go 6 for 6 in nine innings of work. On the other hand, he is the fourth Padre to get 6 hits in one game.

The next day, there was not a blowout for the Padres but still ended up winning. Starting pitcher Kevin Correia didn’t have his best stuff like he usually does. Correia didn’t get a win but the team helped him and snatched a victory from Brew Crew. Adrian continued to do his work and the Padres earned a victory by the score of 6 to 5. Closer Heath Bell earned his 29th save. 

On the final game of the series, there was big offense from both teams. Ceser Carrillo made his major league debut since Padres definitely needed another arm for the starting rotaiton. But who is this guy? I never heard of him. Comparing that rotaion to opening week’s, I know right off the bat that we made a lot of changes. Prince Fielder blasted two homeruns and led the team to a huge lead. However, my boys did eveything they can but it wasn’t enough. Adrian (Yes, him again.) got his 30th homerun of the season. After that homerun, he now has 30 homeruns in three consecutive seasons starting from 2007 when he proved he can flat out hit.

In the end, Padres took another series and crashed a party at Milwaukee. Sorry Brewers fans!

Padres @ Cardinals

I have been waiting for this series for months. It is so weird that the Padres are finally playing my another favorite team for the first time this season. Why couldn’t they play earlier? Anyway, as all of you know, David Eckstein was a Cardinal and honored as 2006 World Series MVP. Eck returned to St. Louis and got a very nice ovation. That’s my boy! It was also good to see Khalil Greene back. Since his time on the starting lineup got short, I didn’t get to see him start on third or short. Oh well. He got a hit so I’m alright.

Mat Latos’ performance was so not like him. This is the rookie who only gives up two or less runs everytime he pitches. However, Mat gave up seven runs, that made a career-high for him. .

He gave up a homrun to Adam Wainwright, AKA a pitcher. Although I like the Cardinals as well, Padres always come first and that homerun shouldn’t have happened. By the way, Adam Wainwright’s homerun was HUGE. Cardinals ended up winning with a comfortable 5-run difference. Kevin Kouzmanoff earned his 15th homerun of the season but it was definitely not enough. There was almost no offense, and below average peformance by the starting pitcher. Cardinals scored nine runs while Padres in sand earned only two runs. I’m not freaking about it though.

Other Padres news

David Eckstein, I love you. I love having you here in San Diego. So why do you want to have a talk with the Cardinals general manager? After 2007 season, you left the team and signed with the Blue Jays. Here’s the fact I know: You didn’t want to leave but there was no other choice. I understand you had tremendous years in as a Cardinal. Being named as an MVP feels great. I know that for sure. But it has been almost three years that you departed St. Louis. Don’t drag it please. You are a classy guy and I just want you to have fun with the young kids in San Diego. I mean, that’s what you said. You love to be a part of the rebuilding Padres and set a huge example to these group of kids. They need someone like you to learn how the real game of baseball works. Stay here and have a great time. That’s all I want from you.

Padres pitcher Chris Young is now officially out for the 2009 season. His right shoulder has been bugging him since June. Padres are not seeing any progress from Chris and he will have a surgery on Monday. I just wish him for the best for next season and recover from the injury quickly as possible.