First Half Recap of 2010

May was filled with ups and downs for the Padres. Kevin Correia’s huge loss made an impact for his game time and started to struggle ever since the day he came back from the bereavement list. He needs to check the time and realize that he is taking too long to come back. However, nothing but the best and luck go out to him whenever he is on the mound doing his job. Kevin Correia in April will be in the near future.

Mat Latos shined on May 13th when he tossed a complete game, one-hit shutout against the Giants in San Francisco. He was absolutely stunning on the mound and took the spotlight. Beginning of the season, there were fans who thought Mat should be sent to the bullpen and even be sent down to the minors because he is very young. Mat proved the doubters and haters wrong by showing his great performance and he is still proving, which is excellent. He is continuing to mature as a great pitcher and his future seems very familiar to a former ace, Jake Peavy. Is Mat Latos the next Jake Peavy? Could be.  

Padres continued to work hard as a team and reached to the place they wanted to be at, which is first place. The doubts started to vanish little by little and surprises appeared from the fans. “May Evaluation” is also available.

June: 15-12, 46-32 overall

June was filled with interleague games and surprisingly, the Padres did a good job not getting dominated by the American League teams. We are not the best when interleague approaches. This year, the American League teams that played against the Padres consisted of the Mariners, Orioles, Blue Jay, and the Rays. Padres finished the interleague series with 7-5 record. It was very pleasant to see these boys turn things around during mid-June baseball from the previous ones, when they had difficult time playing against American League. One of the reasons why this year’s interleague was much different from the previous years was that the Padres took the series from the Tampa Bay Rays, a great looking team in the east. Overall, this series deserved two thumbs up.

You guessed it. You can check out “June Evaluation” to learn more about the month of June that the fantastic Padres had.

Current record of July: 5-5, first half record: 51-37

The last few games has been a downside for the San Diego Padres. In the beginning of July, Padres took three games out of four against the Houston Astros in the homestand. However, the Padres started to struggle, especially with pitching. Besides Mat Latos, the starting and relief pitchers did a below average job. Mat Latos was dominant and even awarded himself with his first career home run against the Nationals in game 3. He is young, but his pitching and performance is veteran quality.

Relief pitcher Luke Gregerson’s incredible slider did not slide very well against the Nationals and even against the Rockies. Luke is one of the best relief pitchers for the Padres bullpen and it was frustrating seeing him struggle. Two things that stood out were 1. Luke was used in so many games during the first half of the season. And 2. Luke is worn out and needs a break. Padres should not rely on Luke Gregerson all the time. He is a human and he needs to rest every once in a while. This All-Star break approached at the perfect moment and Luke will get his much needed break.

Another reason why the series against the Nationals and Rockies were so difficult is that not only the Padres lost two games out of three against Washington and Colorado, but also the four games they lost were in an extremely close fashion. All four games were either down by one or two runs. These games show that one or even two mistakes can cost the game and suffer the consequence with a loss. In order to avoid these devastating losses, mistakes should be avoided at all times.