August Evaluation

Month of August reached its finish line which means it’s time for another evaluation for the San Diego Padres. August was very up and down but in the end, this team finished the month with the record of 16-13, 76-55 overall. They still remain on top of the National League West and National League. As usual, here are the top five greatest moments for the month of August. 

5. Sweeping the Pirates at Petco

From the 10th through the 12th, Padres hosted the Pittsburgh Pirates at Petco Park. The three games consisted of great pitching and great offense from San Diego. Game one was about starting pitcher Wade LeBlanc’s 5.2 innings of eight strikeouts and a one run game. He even helped himself by driving in a run. The bullpen was lights out and did a great job not giving up any runs. From the offensive side, Ryan Ludwick hit not one, but two home runs in this game and Jerry Hairston drove in a run as well. Final score of game one was 4-1 Padres.

The following game’s starting pitcher Kevin Correia did a decent job by giving up four runs and striking out seven Pirates, but earned himself a win. Padres offense provided eight runs to help out the pitcher. This team worked together and earned a “W” in the win column by beating out the Pirates 8-5. 

Jon Garland shined on the final game of the three game series by going six innings of work without allowing any runs. Miguel Tejada and Ryan Ludwick were the ones who provided the offense. In the end, fans got out their brooms and the Padres ultimately swept the Pirates.

4. “A” effort game against the D-Backs on August 7th.

Although the Padres lost in a heartbreaking fashion, this game was very memorable. Why? The Padres did not afford to quit. Starting pitcher was Clayton Richard and he had one of the worst outing of this season. His outing consisted of 3.2 innings of work with allowing five runs. The Padres bats had to wake up and they did. They came back and eventually tied the game five to a piece in the dramatic ninth inning. Unfortunately, Padres reliever Luke Gregerson gave up a walk-off home run to Arizona’s Chris Young.

In the end, the Padres lost but this game meant something very crucial; never giving up. When it comes to a game when the Padres are down by couple of runs, I don’t believe in giving up. This Padres club does not afford to quit. They find a way to comeback and work together as a team in order to be in the place they want to be at. If the team doesn’t give up, then the fans shouldn’t either. I tip my cap to the Padres for their effort and hard work.   

3. Sweeping the Cubs at Wrigley

Padres headed to Chicago to play against the Cubs from the 16th through the 19th for four-game series. All four out of five pitchers did their job very well by preventing the Cubs to score ton of runs. Kevin Correia, Jon Garland, Clayton Richard and Mat Latos did everything they could to earn themselves a win. Bats were awake for all four games and the offensive side helped their pitchers out. Sweeping a team at home is great but sweeping at road is even greater because it feels like crashing a party and snatching wins from the home team.  

2. Making Jonathan Sanchez a liar and taking the series at San Francisco

“We’re going to play San Diego, and we’re going to beat them three times. If we get to first place, we’re not going to look back.” stated the Giants pitcher Jonthan Sanchez. His statement definitely got the fans fired up. For the three games in San Francisco, playoff atmosphere was filled in AT&T Park. The roar from both Padres and Giants fans really set the mood for the potential postseason series between these two teams. 

Jonathan Sanchez was the one who got the call to pitch for the first game of the three game series. Sanchez ultimately lost and the look of his face was priceless when his night was done. Proving people wrong is a great feeling and the Padres successfully did their job.

Even though the Padres lost the following game, they awarded themselves by beating Giants’ ace Tim Lincecum for the final game of the series. Lincecum got the loss he deserved because he allowed five runs in only three innings of work. Wade LeBlanc in the other hand, did the best he could and awarded himself a win by allowing only two runs and pitching seven solid innings.

Sweeping the Giants would have been even better to prove Jonathan Sanchez and the Giants wrong, but the Padres did everything they could and took the series at San Francisco. The way these Padres played baseball for the three games was magnificent and solid.   

1. Believe and faith

This month was filled with the words “believe” and “faith”. Padres received a wakeup call by suffering in a six-game losing streak. This is a season-high and first time ever losing five or more games in a row this season. Some fans are starting to worry about this team right now but I’m not. Keeping faith sounds cliche but it helps a lot for not only myself but for the fans and the team as well. Positive energy always outshines negative energy in so many ways. I have also been seeing whining and panicking from some of the fans and it’s very unacceptable. It’s not the end of the world when a team is in a slump. I don’t expect the 2010 Padres to be dominant all the time because they are not bunch of superheroes. They are human beings who does every little things possible and lead those things into a point when the team come up with opportunities to score and ultimately win ball games. I’m tired of seeing some of the fans panicking about the six-game losing streak and slumping. It’s time to stop for those fans. Padres can slump and I can totally understand that. This team is just going to get better at some point because they are learning from their mistakes to bounce back. I strongly believe that this team is going to bounce back soon and they are not going to collapse.