Padres - Games 21 to 30

The summary for Games 11 to 20 is here. At this point in the season, the Padres are 12-8 and one game behind LA in the NL Western division.

Game 21, Wednesday, April 25, SD at Arizona, Snakes win 3-2. Jake Peavy pitched a beautiful 7 innings, 2 hits, 16 strikeouts, 9 in a row for a Padres record. The bullpen (Linebrink and Hoffman) gave up homers in the 8th and 9th to blow it. Termel Sledge homered for the Pads. Brandon Webb pitched well for the Snakes. After 21 games: Won 12, Lost 9 (home 5-3, road 7-6), Runs 97-83.

Game 22, Thursday, April 26, SD at Arizona, Snakes win 7-4. Chris Young pitched poorly after being staked to a 3-run lead by Adrian Gonzalez homer in the first. Livan Hernandez was almost perfect after the first inning. The key hits were two homers by Tony Clark off Young. This was a winnable game with better starting pitching. After 22 games: Won 12, Lost 10 (home 5-3, road 7-7), Runs 101-90.

Game 23, Friday, April 27, LA at SD, we were there. Dodgers win, 6-5. The most frustrating game of the year so far - it was winnable with a decent relief effort and smarter defense. Clay Hensley pitched well into the 7th, he left leading 4-2. The vaunted bullpen gave it up again - Meredith and Linebrink got through the 8th, but Trevor Hoffman (lost, second blown save in a row) gave up two walks and 3 hits in the 9th. Jose Cruz made it close with a 9th inning homer, but Adrian Gonzalez flied out with the tying run on base. Gonzalez made a mental error in the 9th resulting in a hit, and Cameron couldn't quite flag down a long shot off the bat of Martin that would have ended the game. Argggh. After 23 games: Won 12, Lost 11 (home 5-4, road 7-7), Runs 106-06. Losing streak - 3 games.

Game 24, Saturday, April 28, LA at SD, Padres win 3-2. Another one run game - and it followed the Petco formula. The starter (Greg Maddux) goes 7 innings, giving up 2 runs, and the bullpen shuts them down (Trevor saves). Brett Tomko pitched well except in the 4th - the offense scratched four hits to score 3 runs. Easy. Piece of cake. Nail-biter. Fast - 2 hours, 4 minutes. After 24 games, Won 13, Lost 11 (home 6-4, road 7-7, me 2-2), Runs 109-98. Winning streak 1 game.

Game 25, Sunday, April 29, LA at SD, Dodgers win 5-4 in 17 innings. The starters sucked - Boomer Wells went 5 innings, gave up 4 runs. Derek Lowe went 7 and have up 4 runs. Fast forward to the 17th - an error puts a runner on first who scores on a Brady Clark double just ahead of the tag. The bullpens were outstanding - Pads had 12 innings of no earned runs (Brocail 2, Meredith 2, Bell 2, Cameron 2, Hampson 4 (lost)). Dodgers had 10 innings of shutout ball - and the Pads had few chances in that time. Frustrating. Tough one to lose. After 25 games, Won 13, lost 12 (home 6-5, road 7-7, me 2-2), Runs 113-103. Losing streak- 1 game, and 3 of 4.

Game 26, Monday, April 30, Washington at SD, Nationals win 3-2. Jake Peavy struck out 10, but gave up 3 runs in 7 innings, including one gift run, and lost. John Patterson gave up two solo homers to Termel Sledge and Josh Bard in 7 innings, and the Nats bullpen closed it out. The Padres left runners in scoring position several times - very frustrating! Another tough one to lose - we pitched well enough to win but the offense sucks right now. After 26 games, Won 13, Lost 13 (Home 6-6, Road 7-7, me 2-2), Runs 115-106. Losing streak - 2 games, and 5 of 6.

Game 27, Tuesday, May 1, Washington at SD, Pads win 3-0. Chris Young went 8 innings, gave up only 3 hits, and Trevor Hoffman got the save. The Pads scratched three runs on only 4 hits - triples by Adrian Gonzalez and Kevin Kouzmanoff plated runners, and then Oscar Robles squeezed Kouz in in the 8th. The Nats pitcher, Shawn Hill, pitched well enough to win. After 27 games, Won 14, Lost 13 (Home 7-6, Road 7-7), Runs 118-106. Winning streak - 1 game. Won 2 of last 7, 4 out of last 10, 6 of last 13.

Game 28, Wednesday, May 2, Washington at SD, Pads win 7-3. This started badly - Clay Hensley gave up a run in the first, then left in the third with a groin problem. The bullpen did well, except Cla Meredith gave up his first two runs of the year in the 6th. The Pads broke through in the 4th with 5 runs, and added 2 in the 8th. The slumpers (Greene, Cameron, Kouzmanoff) are starting to hit better - more line drives, fewer strikeouts. After 28 games, Won 15, Lost 13 (Home 8-6, Road 7-7), Runs 125-109. Streak - Won 2, 3 of 8, 5 of 11.

Game 29, Friday, May 4, SD at Florida, Fish win 5-4. Maddux gave up 2 runs in the first, but the Pads battled back (on 4 hits) to lead 4-3 after 6 innings. Bell pitched a scoreless inning, then Linebrink gave up two homers in the 8th to take the loss. Another winnable game. After 29 games: Won 15, Lost 14 (Home 8-6, Road 7-8), Runs 129-114, Lost 1, 6 of 9, 7 of 12.

Game 30, Saturday, May 5, SD at Florida, Pads win 7-6 in 12 innings. Wells gave up 3 runs in 5+, the Pads tied it up, and then Meredith gave up 3 in the 7th. The Pads battled back to tie it in the 9th, and won it in the 12th on a key hit by Josh Bard. Hampson got the win, Trevor the save.

After 30 games: Won 16, Lost 14 (Home 8-6, Road 8-8).
Runs 136-120.
Team batting: 0.243 (13th in NL) , opponents 0.239.
Team homers: 26 (7th in NL), opponents 17
Team ERA: 3.59 (5th in NL), opponents 4.02

Starters hitting: Marcus Giles 0.321; Brian Giles 0.282, Gonzalez 0.298, Bard 0.250, Greene 0.259, Cameron 0.202, Branyan 0.269, Cruz 0.342. Cameron needs to get hot with the bat now that April is over.

Starting Pitchers W-L/ERA: Peavy 3-1/2.06; Chris Young 3-2/3.34; Greg Maddux 2-2/3.96; David Wells 1-1/6.00, Clay Hensley 1-3/7.62.

In Games 21 to 30, the Pads went 4-6 and slipped to 3rd place, 2 games behind the dodgers (18-12) and 1/2 game behind the Giants (16-13). The D-backs are 16-16, and Rockies 13-17. This is a winnable division - the Pads need to have a good May and take it from there.