Padres 2008 - Games 51-60

Here is the Padres' history for each 10-game block of the 2008 season so far:

* 10 games, 5-5 overall, 4-3 at home, 1-2 on the road, Runs 32-31, Homers 6-7, team BA 0.282, team ERA 2.97.

* 20 games, 9-11 overall, 5-5 at home, 4-6 on the road, Runs 65-92, Homers 11-14, team BA 0.239, opposition BA 0.241, team ERA 3.88, opposition ERA 2.65.

* 30 games, 11-19 overall, 6-9 at home, 5-10 on the road, Runs 98-139, Homers 21-26, team BA 0.226, opposition BA 0.244, team ERA 4.01, opposition ERA 2.79.

* 40 games, 15-25 overall, 8-10 at home, 7-15 on the road, Runs 135-188, Homers 29-33, team BA 0.234, opposition BA 0.253, team ERA 4.14, opposition ERA 3.35.

* 50 games, 18-32 overall, 10-13 at home, 8-19 on the road, Runs 168-237, Homers 38-44, team BA 0.237, opposition BA 0.261, team ERA 4.33, opposition ERA 3.44.

Games 51 to 60 summaries:

* Game 51, Saturday, 24 May, Cincinnati at San Diego: Reds win 7-2. We were there. A poorly pitched game - Wil Ledezma (3 IP, 5 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 2 SO) started and Sean Henn gave up 2 runs in the 9th to put it out of reach. The Pads pitchers gave up 11 hits and walked 11. The Pads only 2 runs came on McAnulty's triple in the 5th inning. After 51 games, the Pads are 18-33 overall, 10-14 at home, 8-19 on the road, Runs 170-244, Homers 38-45. They've lost 2 in a row, lost 7 out of the last 10, and lost 26 out of 36.

* Game 52, Sunday, 25 May, Cincinnati at San Diego: Pads win 12-9 in 18 innings. The Pads broke out with 3 in the 2nd inning, the Reds tied it with 3 in the 5th, went ahead with 2 in the 6th, the Pads tied it in the 8th, the Reds got 1 in the 9th, Hairston tied it in the bottom of the 9th, the Reds got 2 in the 11th, and the Pads matched it in the bottom of the 11th, and Adrian Gonzalez won it with a 3-run homer in the 18th off the 10th Reds pitcher, Edinson Volquez. Whew. Kouzmanoff had 2 homers, McAnulty 1, and Gonzalez had 4 RBIs. Greg Maddux started (5.1 IP, 1 ER, 4 R, 6 H, 3 BB, 4 SO), Meredith, Hoffman and Wells gave up runs in relief, but Josh Banks saved the day with 6 innings of shutout relief to get the win. After 52 games, the Pads are 19-33 overall, 11-14 at home, 8-19 on the road, Runs 182-253, Homers 42-46. They've won 1 in a row, lost 6 out of the last 10, and lost 26 out of 37.

* Game 53: Tuesday, 27 May, Washington at San Diego: Pads win 4-2. Adrian Gonzalez and Kevin Kouzmanoff hit back-to-back homers in the 7th inning to break up a 2-2 tie game. Randy wolf pitched well (6 IP, 2 R, 7 H, 0 BB, 5 SO) and Corey, Bell and Hoffman pitched three scoreless relief innings (Bell won it, now 1-3, Hoffman got his 10th save). After 53 games, the Pads are 20-33 overall, 12-14 at home, 8-19 on the road, Runs 186-255, Homers 44-47. They've won 2 in a row, lost 6 out of the last 10, and lost 26 out of 38.

* Game 54: Wednesday, 28 May, Washington at San Diego: Nats win 6-4. Catcher Jesus Flores hit a grand slam in the 4th off Shawn Estes (5 IP, 4 R, 4 H, 2 BB, 3 SO), lost, now 1-1 and Mike Adams gave up 2 runs in relief. The Pads battled back to 6-4 with Hairston's homer in the 7th. After 54 games, the Pads are 20-34 overall, 12-15 at home, 8-19 on the road, Runs 190-261, Homers 45-49. They've lost 1 in a row, lost 6 out of the last 10, and lost 27 out of 39.

* Game 55: Thursday, 29 May, Washington at San Diego: Pads win 5-2. Jody Gerut hit a 3-run homer in the 8th inning to break a 2-2 tie game. Wil Ledezma pitched well (5 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 3 BB, 7 SO) but Cla Meredith gave up a tying run in the 7th. Heath Bell got the win (now 2-3) and Trevor Hoffman got his 11th save. Edgar Gonzalez drove in the first two runs in the 4th with a bases-loaded single. After 55 games, the Pads are 21-34 overall, 13-15 at home, 8-19 on the road, Runs 195-263, Homers 46-49. They've won 1 in a row, won 3 out of the last 4, won 5 out of the last 10, and lost 27 out of the last 40.

* Game 56: Friday, 30 May, San Diego at San Francisco: Pads win 7-3. Greg Maddux and Matt Cain engaged in a pitching duel, but the Pads bullpen won it for the Pads (bell got the win, now 2-3). After 56 games, the Pads are 22-34 overall, 13-15 at home, 9-19 on the road, Runs 202-266, Homers 47-50. They've won 2 in a row, won 4 out of the last 5, and won 6 out of the last 10.

* Game 57: Saturday, 31 May, San Diego at San Francisco: Pads win 5-1. Josh Banks pitched a great game (9 IP, 0 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 5 SO, won, now 2-0). The Pads scored 4 in the first inning, on error-single-walk-single-single-strikeout-double. Adrian Gonzalez had 3 RBI. After 57 games, the Pads are 23-34 overall, 13-15 at home, 10-19 on the road, Runs 207-267, Homers 47-50. They've won 3 in a row, won 5 out of the last 6, and won 6 out of the last 10.

* Game 58: Sunday, 1 June, San Diego at San Francisco: Giants win 4-3. Randy Wolf pitched really well (6 IP, 1 R, 4 H, 1 BB, 5 SO) but Trevor Hoffman blew the save and got the loss (3 BS, 0-4) in the 10th inning after Adrian Gonzalez hit a 2-run homer off Alex Hinshaw. After 58 games, the Pads are 23-35 overall, 13-15 at home, 10-20 on the road, Runs 210-271, Homers 48-51. They've lost 1 in a row, won 5 out of the last 7, and won 6 out of the last 10.

* Game 59: Monday, 2 June, Chicago Cubs at San Diego: Cubbies win 7-6. This was a really frustrating game ... the Pads scored 3 in the first inning off Carlos Zambrano. The Cubs pecked away and were ahead 4-3 when Cha Seung Baek left (4.1 IP, 4 R, 9 H, 1 BB, 2 SO, lost, now 1-1). Justin Hampson gave up 2 more runs in the 6th, and Mike Adams another in the 7th, and the Cubs sailed into the bottom of the 9th with a 7-3 lead. Adrian Gonzalez hit a 3-run homer in the 9th with one out, but Kerry Wood got Tony Clark to strike out, and Michael Barrett flied out. After 59 games, the Pads are 23-36 overall, 13-16 at home, 10-20 on the road, Runs 216-278, Homers 49-51. They've lost 2 in a row, won 5 out of the last 8, and won 5 out of the last 10.

* Game 60: Tuesday, 3 June, Chicago Cubs at San Diego: Cubs win 9-6. Wil Ledezma (4.2 IP), Brian corey (1.1 IP) and Carlos Guevara (2 IP) each gave up 3 runs as the Cubs blasted 3 home runs. The Pads lead 2-0 and 3-1 before the Cubs went up 9-3. The Pads scored 3 in the 8th to make it closer. After 60 games, the Pads are 23-37 overall, 13-17 at home, 10-20 on the road, Runs 222-287, Homers 49-54. They've lost 3 in a row, and won 5 out of the last 10.

In these 10 games, the Pads were 5-5, 3-4 at home, 2-1 on the road, Runs 54-50, Homers 11-10. They were blown out in only one of the losses.

Hitting statistics (Avg, H-AB, HR-RBI, BB-SO) through 59 games (the U-T didn't publish stats through 60 games):

Jody Gerut -- 0.250, 22-88, 2-6, 12-15
Tadahito Iguchi - 0.257, 59-230, 2-18, 23-53
Brian Giles - 0.295, 64-217, 3-23, 39-24
Adrian Gonzalez - 0.298, 70-235, 17-54, 20-52
Kevin Kouzmanoff - 0.273, 66-242, 8-25, 8-48
Kahlil Greene - 0.207, 45-217, 5-23, 14-58
Scott Hairston - 0.220, 38-173, 7-15, 12-48
Josh Bard - 0.200, 26-130, 0-7, 14-18
Paul McAnulty - 0.211, 20-95, 3-9, 20-25
Michael Barrett - 0.182, 6-33, 0-4, 3-6
Tony Clark - 0.245, 12-49, 0-2, 11-18

TEAM HITTING: 0.237, 491-2079, 49-208, 208-473
OPPO HITTING: 0.260, 543-2088, 51-261, 203-419

Pitching Statistics (W-L, ERA, G-IP, H-ER, BB-SO) through 59 games:

Jake Peavy -- 4-3, 2.91, 9-58.2, 48-19, 20-60
Chris Young -- 4-4, 4.50, 10-54.0, 50-27, 30-51
Randy Wolf -- 3-4, 4.33, 12-70.2, 67-34, 23-64
Greg Maddux -- 3-4, 3.69, 12-70.2, 77-29, 12-38
Shawn Estes -- 1-1, 3.33, 5-24.1, 18-9, 10-14
Josh Banks -- 2-0, 0.00, 3-17.0, 14-00, 5-10
Heath Bell - 2-3, 2.23, 29-32.1, 24-8, 10-25
Cla Meredith -- 0-1, 4.03, 30-29.0, 28-13, 8-19
Trevor Hoffman -- 0-4, 5.68, 20-19.0, 21-12, 6-23 (11 saves)
Wil Ledezma -- 0-2, 4.25, 12-36.0, 34-17, 21-31

TEAM PITCHING: 23-36, 4.19, 59-549.2, 543-256, 203-419
OPPO PITCHING: 36-23, 3.22, 59-550.0, 491-197, 208-473.

The injury bug bit again during this ten game stretch, with Shawn Estes breaking his thumb in the dugout and going on the DL.

The team batting average stayed the same, but with Jody Gerut (10 for 31) and Adrian Gonzalez (16 for 38, 4 HR, 15 RBI) improved a bit, and Kahlil Greene really slumped (3 for 34, 14 SO). There are way too many strikeouts (84 in these 9 games) but there were more hits (84 in these 9 games) and RBIs (47 in these 9 games) and walks (45 in these 9 games).

The hitters are averaging 8.32 hits, 3.66 runs, 0.83 homers, 3.52 walks and 8.02 strikeouts per game. The opposition stats are 9.20 hits, 4.71 runs, 0.86 homers, 3.44 walks and 7.10 strikeouts per game.