Padres 2008 - Games 11-20

After 10 games, the Pads are 5-5 overall, 4-3 at home, 1-2 on the road, Runs 32-31, Homers 6-7. The team is hitting 0.282, and has a team ERA of 2.97.

Game 11, Friday, April 11, San Diego at LA Dodgers. Padres win, 7-5. The Pads scored 4 runs in the 4th inning on singles to help Jake Peavy notch the win (now 3-0). Peavy went 6 innings (9 hits, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO), and the bullpen was shaky - Thatcher gave up a run and Hoffman gave up a run but struck out Jeff Kent with the bases loaded to notch his 3rd save. The Pads had 16 hits, all but one singles. After 11 games, the Pads are 6-5 overall, 4-3 at home, 2-2 on the road, Runs 39-36, Homers 6-8.

Game 12, Saturday, April 12, San Diego at LA Dodgers. Dodgers win 11-1. Chris Young gave up 7 runs in 3 innings, walking 4. The Pads were baffled by Derek Lowe in a blowout game, getting only 4 hits and no walks. The Dodgers had 3 homers. After 11 games, the Pads are 6-6 overall, 4-3 at home, 2-3 on the road, Runs 40-47, Homers 6-11.

Game 13, Sunday, April 13, San Diego at Los Angeles. Pads win, 1-0. On a hot day, Greg Maddux went 5 innings to win his second game, giving up 2 hits with 1 BB and 2 SO. The Pads scored a run in the 4th off of Chad Billingsley - on a walk to Edmunds, a double by Greene, and a Sac Fly by Paul McAnulty. The bullpen pitched 4 scoreless innings, Hoffman got his 4th save. After 13 games, the Pads are 7-6 overall, 4-3 at home, 3-3 on the road, Runs 41-47, Homers 6-11.
Game 14, Tuesday, April 15, Colorado at San Diego. Pads win, 6-0. Randy Wolf (now 1-0) pitched a masterpiece, taking a no-hitter into the 7th inning. Kevin Cameron pitched two scoreless innings to close it out. The Pads scored 6 runs in the 5th inning off Ubaldo Jiminez on three walks, an error and three doubles (by Giles, Kouzmanoff and Edmonds, each driving in two runs). After 14 games, the Pads are 8-6 overall, 5-3 at home, 3-3 on the road, Runs 47-47, Homers 6-11.

Game 15, Wednesday, April 16, Colorado at San Diego. Rocks win 10-2, but it was only 3-2 after 8 innings. Justin Germano (now 0-1) went 7 innings, pitching well enough to win (3 ER, 8 H, 2 BB, 0 K), but the Rocks scored 7 in the 9th off Cla Meredith and Glendon Rusch. Brian Giles had two of the Padres 3 hits, and both RBIs, as Mark Redman and four relievers shut the Padres offense down. After 15 games, the Pads are 8-7 overall, 5-4 at home, 3-3 on the road, Runs 49-57, Homers 6-11.

Game 16, Thursday, April 17, Colorado at San Diego. Rocks win 2-1 in 22 innings. Yep, 22 innings. We were there through 15, but I watched/listened to all of itYawn. Jake Peavy (8 IP, 0 R, 4 H, 3 BB, 11 SO) and Jeff Francis (7 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 1 BB, 7 K) started but weren't around at the end at 1:21 a.m. The Rocks scored 1 in the 14th off of Kevin Cameron, and the Pads answered with 1 run off closer Manny Corpas. In the 22nd, Kahlil Greene threw high on a Willy Taveras grounder, he stole 2nd and went to third on Bard's error, and scored on Tulowitzki's double off Glendon Rusch (0-1). Both bullpens pitched very well. Both offenses sucked. After 16 games, the Pads are 8-8 overall, 5-5 at home, 3-3 on the road, Runs 50-59, Homers 6-11.

Game 17, Friday, April 18, San Diego at Arizona. Snakes win 9-0 and it wasn't that close. Greg Maddux was rocked for 6 runs in the first inning, and 9 runs in 7 innings as he took one for the team. Dan Haren pitched 7 innings for the D-backs to win his third game. Conor Jackson had 4 hits (homer, two triples, single) off Maddux. After 17 games, the Pads are 8-9 overall, 5-5 at home, 3-4 on the road, Runs 50-68, Homers 6-12. They've lost 3 in a row for the first time this year.

Game 18, Saturday, April 19, San Diego at Arizona. Snakes win 10-3. Chris Young started for the Pads and went 6 innings (3 H, 2 R) and left with the Pads ahead 3-2 on homers by McAnulty and Giles. Joe Thatcher gave up 2 runs in the 7th to take the loss, and Kevin Cameron pitched poorly in the 8th, giving up 6 more runs. This was a winnable game - but Buddy didn't pull the relievers when he should have - perhaps a hangover from the 22 inning game - he doesn't have everybody ready yet. If Thatcher had held them in the 7th, we would have seen Bell and Hoffman finish up. After 18 games, the Pads are 8-10 overall, 5-5 at home, 3-5 on the road, Runs 53-78, Homers 8-12. They've lost 4 in a row for the first time this year.

Game 19, Sunday, April 20, San Diego at Arizona. Padres win 9-4. Randy Wolf (now 2-0) pitched into the 7th (6.1 IP, 4 R, 6 H, 1 BB, 7 SO) and the Pads scored 6 runs off Randy Johnson, the key hit being Justin Huber's 3-run homer in the 6th. The Pads had only 10 hits, but 6 were for extra-bases. After 19 games, the Pads are 9-10 overall, 5-5 at home, 4-5 on the road, Runs 62-82, Homers 9-12. They've won 1 in a row, but lost 4 out of 5 and 6 out of 10.

Game 20, Monday, April 21, San Diego at Houston. Astros win 10-3 and it wasn't close. Justin Germano gave up 5 runs in the first, and 10 in the first 4 to take the loss. The 'Stros got two early homers, and the Pads had solo homers from Gonzalez and Edmonds in their 8-hit "attack." Roy Oswalt was more than adequate given a big lead. After 20 games, the Pads are 9-11 overall, 5-5 at home, 4-6 on the road, Runs 65-92, Homers 11-14. They've lost 5 out of 6 and 6 out of 10.

In these 10 games, the Pads were 4-6, 1-2 at home, 3-4 on the road, Runs 33-61, Homers 5-7. They were blown out in 5 of the losses, and the 6th was the 22-inning marathon that depleted the pitching staff for a weekend.

Hitting statistics (Avg, H-AB, HR-RBI, BB-SO)

Brian Giles - 0.304, 21-69, 2-12, 8-7
Tadahito Iguchi - 0.218, 17-78, 0-3, 10-16
Adrian Gonzalez - 0.280, 21-75, 3-11, 7-17
Kevin Kouzmanoff - 0.291, 25-86, 1-7, 3-17
Jim Edmonds - 0.212, 11-52, 1-5, 4-17
Kahlil Greene - 0.237, 18-76, 0-7, 4-16
Scott Hairston - 0.200, 13-65, 2-6, 7-18
Josh Bard - 0.246, 15-61, 0-3, 7-6

TEAM HITTING: 0.239, 169-706, 11-63, 62-156
OPPO HITTING: 0.241, 171-709, 14-84, 75-131

Pitching Statistics (W-L, ERA, G-IP, H-ER, BB-SO)

Justin Germano -- 0-2, 5.01, 4-23.1, 25-13, 8-7
Jake Peavy -- 3-0, 1.20, 4-30.0, 18-4, 9-27
Chris Young -- 1-1, 4.57, 4-21.2, 20-11, 15-17
Randy Wolf -- 2-0, 2.49, 4-25.1, 16-7, 8-25
Greg Maddux -- 2-1, 4.68, 4-25.0, 24-13, 6-14
Heath Bell - 0-1, 0.77, 10-11.2, 10-1, 2-5
Cla Meredith -- 0-1, 5.00, 10-9.0, 8-5, 1-4
Joe Thatcher -- 0-2, 8.00, 8-9.0, 11-8, 5-8
Trevor Hoffman -- 0-2, 8.10, 7-6.2, 8-6, 4-7 (4 saves)
Wil Ledezma -- 0-0, 1.42, 4-12.2, 10-2, 7-8

TEAM PITCHING: 9-11, 3.88, 20-190.0, 171-82, 75-131
OPPO PITCHING: 11-9, 2.65, 20-190.0, 169-56, 62-156.

In the last 10 games, the Pads hit 0.198, with only Giles and Kouzmanoff holding up their averages. The team ERA for the last 10 games was 4.82, with only Jake Peavy, Heath Bell and Wil Ledezma pitching consistently.

It's going to be a long season unless the starting pitching stops giving up big early innings, the relievers start getting more outs than hits/walks, and the batters hit for a much higher average with more power. There is no "big bat" in this lineup and there needs to be.