Padres - Games 11 to 20

Saturday, 14 April, Game 11, SD at LA, Padres win 7-2. Vintage Jake Peavy - three excellent starts so far. He's pitching better, not throwing. The Pads jumped on Jason Schmidt for 6 runs in the first two innings and rode it out. Homers by Brian Giles and Kevin Kouzmanoff. A nice win. After 11 games: Won 7, lost 4 (home 4-2, road 3-2), Runs 41-32.

Sunday, 15 April, Game 12, SD at LA, on ESPN, Dodgers win 9-3. Chris Young started and went into the 3rd. Kevin Cameron (3 innings, no runs) and Doug Brocail (2 innings, one run) kept it close until Linebrink gave up 3 in the 8th. The Pads chipped away but never closed the gap. Another bad loss - even two errors by both teams. After 12 games: Won 7, Lost 5 (Home 4-2, road 3-3), Runs 44-41.

Monday, 16 April, Game 13, SD at Chicago, Cubs win 12-4. It was a stinker, not that close! Hensley again fails - 10 runs, but he saved bullpen innings. The Pads got close, 3-1, in the 5th, but then the Cubs blew it open. A two-game losing streak. After 13 games: Won 7, Lost 6 (Home 4-2, Away 3-4), Runs 48-53.

Tuesday, 17 April, Game 14, SD at Chicago, Padres win 4-3 in 14 innings. This was a pitcher's battle. The Pads got 3 early, and the Cubs tied it off Maddux in the 5th. Both bullpens held until the 14th, when the Pads got doubles from Greene and Blum. Meredith, Linebrink, Bell and Brocail each pitched 2 scoreless hitless innings, then Hoffman got the save (#3). After 14 games: Won 8, Lost 6 (Home 4-2, Away 4-4), Runs 52-56.

Wednesday, April 18, Game 15, Arizona at SD, Snakes win 5-2 in 12 innings. This was another pitcher's battle. Boomer Wells was near perfect early - only a misplayed fly ball through 6 innings, then he got squeezed in the 7th and walked in a run. Brandon Webb struck out 13 through 8 innings, and left tied at 2-2 after an outfield error. The bullpens did well - but Mike Thompson (lost) gave up 3 runs in the 12th after missing first base on a cover and Adrian misplayed a 2-out grounder. After 15 games: Won 8, Lost 7 (Home 4-3, Road 4-4), Runs 54-61.

Thursday, April 19, Game 16, Arizona at SD, Pads win 11-6. This was not a pitcher's battle. Peavy threw 4 shutout innings, then gave up 5 runs in the next two. The Pads ran off 7 runs against Livan Hernandez in the first 3 innings, then got 4 more after the Snakes made it close at 7-5. Kahlil and Bowen homered, and Peavy had two extra base hits to help his cause. The two new bullpen guys pitched - Hampson failed, Rakers did OK. The Pads are now 4-0 in the daytime, 5-7 at night. Interesting! After 16 games: Won 9, Lost 7 (Home 5-3, road 4-4), Runs 65-67.

Friday, April 20, Game 17, SD at Colorado, Pads win 11-1. It wasn't that close. The Pads jumped out early with Adrian Gonzalez 3-run homer in the 1st, and stroked 17 hits. Chris Young throttled the Rocks through 7 on 1 run and 4 hits, and Doug Brocail finished it up. A really complete and well played game by my Padres in all phases. After 17 games: Won 10, Lost 7 (Home 5-3, Road 5-4), runs 76-68.

Saturday, April 21, Game 18, SD at Colorado, Pads win 7-3. Clay Hensley finally pitched OK - 2 runs in 6 innings. Pads got 5 runs off Francis early, including Adrian Gonzalez 5th homer, and a total of 15 hits - 5th game in a row with more than 10 hits. After 18 games: Won 11, Lost 7 (Home 5-3, Road 6-4), runs 83-71.

Sunday, April 22, Game 19, SD at Colorado, Rocks win 4-2. Greg Maddux pitched just OK - good enough to lose on a day when Jason Hirsh shut down the Pads on 5 hits, including Kahlil Greene's 4th homer. Pads never led. Marcus Giles had the day off. After 19 games: Won 11, Lost 8 (home 5-3, road 6-5), runs 85-75.

Tuesday, April 24, Game 20, SD at Arizona: Pads win 10-5. Wells went 5 and gave up 5 runs - too many straight fastballs. But the Pads scored 4 in the 5th and 4 in the 6th to give him the win. Jose Cruz and Adrian Gonzalez homered, and Kahlil Greene had 4 hits and 4 RBI. The bullpen threw 4 hitless innings and Trevor got his 4th save after Cameron got the bases loaded in the 9th.

After 20 games:

Won 12, Lost 8 (5-3 at home, 7-5 on the road)
Scored 95 runs, Gave up 80.
Team BA 0.263, Opponents 0.245
Team HR 20, opponents 9.
Team ERA 3.72, opponents 4.34.

Marcus Giles hitting 0.338, 2 HR, 13 RBI
Adrian Gonzalez hitting 0.329, 6 HR, 20 RBI
Jose Cruz hitting 0.326, 3 HR, 6 RBI
Brian Giles hitting 0.318, 1 HR, 7 RBI
Kahlil Greene hitting 0.300, 4 HR, 13 RBI
Rob Bowen hitting 0.256, 1 HR, 5 RBI
Mike Cameron hitting 0.203, 0 HR, 3 RBI
Kenin Kouzmanoff hitting 0.122, 1 HR, 3 RBI

Jake Peavy 3-0, 25.1 innings, 2.13 ERA
Chris Young 2-1, 21.2 innings, 3.32 ERA
Greg Maddux 1-2, 23.1 innings, 4.24 ERA
David Wells 1-1, 21.0 innings, 6.00 ERA
Craig Hensley 1-3, 20.0 innings, 9.45 ERA
Kevin Cameron (10.2 innings), Trevor Hoffman (6.1 innings, Cla Meredith (11.1 innings) all have 0.00 ERA.

After 20 games, the standings are:

L.A. Dodgers 13-7
S. D. Padres 12-8
S.F. Giants 10-8
Arizona 10-11
Colorado 8-13

To sum up - decent hitting, decent power, decent defense, decent starting pitching and excellent relief pitching over the first 20 games.

So it is anybody's division at this point. The next 10 should be interesting!