The Padre Post

SAN DIEGO– Roy Halladay went on the mound for the Philadelphia Phillies and had another stellar outing as his fourteen strikeouts led the Phillies to a 3-1 victory and a sweep of the San Diego Padres.  San Diego starter, Wade LeBlanc, pitched nearly as well as Halladay despite a few bad pitches and bad defense behind him.

Both Halladay and LeBlanc went as far as the eighth inning, but Halladay’s 14-strikeouts takes the headline compared to LeBlanc’s two strikeouts.  At one point during the game, Halladay retired six straight.  Halladay allowed just five hits and was pulled with one out away from the complete game after surrendering the shutout run in the ninth.

A bad sixth inning is what prevented San Diego from staying in this game as Roy was going to deal it to the Padres all afternoon.  Jimmy Rollins led off the sixth with single and was able to motor all the way to third on Ryan Howard’s single to right.  Ben Francisco followed with another single to bring Rollins home for the first Phillies run.

John Mayberry Jr. then hit an RBI-double to give Philadelphia a two-run lead.  The Phillies added another run in the seventh on a Shane Victorino inside the park homerun, going up 3-0.

Aside from those few mistakes and Roy’s ninth inning run, which was probably a result of fatigue, both gave the fans a great performance.  Jason Bartlett scored on Will Venable’s single to center to prevent Halladay’s complete game shutout.

Roy Halladay already has early Cy Young numbers with a 3-1 record and an ERA of 2.41.  The Padres open a three game home series against the Atlanta Braves starting Monday night.

CHICAGO– The Friendly Confines were not so friendly to anyone at the first night game at Wrigley Field as the San Diego Padres visited the Chicago Cubs.  It was not a great night for baseball in Chicago considering the temperature was hovering around freezing by the first pitch and the Chicago Bulls were also playing in their game-two matchup with the Indiana Pacers.

Was it also mentioned that there was nothing the cheer for unless you are a fan of cold temperatures and pitchers’ duel?  With the wind blowing in considerably, despite the cold, it was a good night to be a starter to lower one’s ERA.  San Diego starter, Tim Stauffer, pitched seven innings and allowed just four hits.  Cubs starter, Carlos Zambrano though, one-upped Stauffer on the night.  Zambrano pitched eight innings allowing three hits and struck out ten.

Even worse than the cold, the game had to go to extras tied 0-0.  At least it ended quickly soon afterwards in the bottom of the tenth.  Geovany Soto grounded into a force out, but with Kosuke Fukudome at first, Soto was able to reach first safely.  Tyler Colvin then doubled home Soto for the game-winning RBI to send the Cubs and its fans back to their warm homes to watch the Chicago Bulls pull out another close victory over the Pacers.

With another night game scheduled, and temperatures still cold in the Midwest, conditions are expected to be similar to Monday night when Dustin Moseley goes for San Diego.

SAN DIEGO– The San Diego Padres opened up play at their home park, PETCO Park, against the defending champions after a solid road series in St. Louis.  They would continue their early success beating the San Francisco Giants in a low scoring affair, winning 3-1.

Both starting pitchers had their 2011 debuts, but, both had very different experiences on the mound.  Aaron Harang of San Diego had strong outing to start season going six innings and allowed the Giants only run of the game while striking out six.  Madison Bumgarner of San Francisco departed early, leaving after three innings as he gave up three earned runs on five hits and issued three walks.

Andreas Torres led the game off with a single to right and proceeded to steal second.  On a ground out by Freddy Sanchez, Torres moved to third, scoring on Aubrey Huff’s groundout to first.

The only other scoring of the game was by San Diego in the bottom of the third as they batted around the order which started with a single by Nick Hundley.  Pitcher, Aaron Harang, moved Hundley to second on a sacrifice bunt.  Jason Bartlett followed with a walk and Orlando Hundson singled to first base loading them for Jorge Cantu.  Cantu hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game 1-1.  Ryan Ludwick was issued a walk, again loading the bases.  Another walk by Bumgarner allowed a run to score giving San Diego the lead.  A third run on an RBI single by Chris Denorfia gave San Diego a 3-1 lead, the eventual final score.

The second and final game of the series was all about starter Tim Lincecum.  The Giants ace proved to the Padres once again why he is still to be feared every time he starts for San Francisco.  His performance was unbelievable going seven innings, allowing only a solo home run, to Nick Hundley, on three hits and striking out thirteen Padres!

Even though PETCO Park is typically pitcher friendly, Freddy Sanchez managed to hit a triple off Tim Stauffer.  He later scored on Aubrey Huff’s single to right.  Buster Posey followed with a two-run home run to give San Francisco a three run lead after the first inning.

The Giants had another big inning in the six, batting around the order and scoring four additional runs to take an 8-1 lead.  Brandon Belt led off with a single and Miguel Tejada walked as both moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by Lincecum.  Freddy Sanchez was intentionally walked with two outs in the inning to load the bases up for Buster Posey.  Posey hit a two-run RBI single to right field which Pablo Sandoval followed with his own RBI single giving the Giants the big lead.

In his first appearance of 2011, Brian Wilson struggled as it seemed San Diego might make a last inning rally.  With one out, Alberto Gonzalez singled and Orlando followed with a walk by Wilson.  Brad Hawpe singled to Tejada who kept the inning alive for the Giants with a throwing error that scored Gonzalez and put Hudson at third with one out.  Chase Headley then doubled scoring both runners and cutting the Giants lead to 8-4.  Chris Denorfia walked and pinch-hitter Jorge Cantu singled to load the bases with two outs and made it very possible that one swing of the bat would tie this game and give Lincecum’s a no-decision despite his thirteen strikeouts.  However, there was no need to panic as a fly out by Rob Johnson ended the game.

ST. LOUIS — Traveling to the National League Central favorite, St. Louis Cardinals, to open the 2011 season, expectations were not high: do not get swept right away.  The San Diego Padres though left St. Louis with a series win, currently are second in the West, and a possible force to be reckoned with alongside Los Angeles as San Francisco struggles in the early going.

The opening day game of course had its ups and downs as it usually does for both teams, with St. Louis first baseman, Albert Pujols, struggling in his first game after the controversy over a new contract was finally silenced during spring training.  For the first time ever in his MLB career, Pujols grounded into three double plays.  The game looked like it would be a great opener to season, and likely to go extras until outfielder Matt Holliday broke the 2-2 tie with his first home-run, just after Pujols deep shot just missed the bleachers.  All seemed over for San Diego as they were down to their finally out against Cardinals closer, Ryan Franklin.  But, Cameron Maybin had other thoughts, sending a solo shot to deep center field and keeping the Padres alive.

With the momentum finally on their side, the Padres took advantage in the top of the eleventh, scoring two runs.  Chase Headley got on base with a single and Maybin again caused problems for St. Louis.  He singled to right field and was able to move to second on a catching error by shortstop Ryan Theriot allowing Headley to score and give San Diego the lead.  Nick Hundley followed with a single of his own to give the Padres a two run lead they would not surrender and go on to win 5-3.

Early, I did not think the Padres to be contenders in this division with the loss of Adrian Gonzalez’s bat, and the offense San Francisco and Los Angeles possess.  San Diego on Saturday proved this logic wrong, hammering the Cardinals number two starter for eight earned runs in 4 1/3 innings.  Without Holliday in the lineup, there was a lot relief among the Padres pitching staff who only had to deal with Albert Pujols.  While he struggled in his first game, Pujols showed he earns the big bucks going yard in the third.  However, that would be the Cardinals last run of the game, as Padres starter Clayton Richard settled down to blank St. Louis through the sixth with the bullpen continued to do the same as San Diego won back to back games in St. Louis with a final score of 11-3.

Going for the sweep would be difficult task to overcome as St. Louis rarely gets swept, let alone in their own stadium.  Although San Diego was shutout, it was a good confidence booster for starter Dustin Moseley to go seven innings against hitters like Pujols and Lance Berkman because he will face similar threats in divisional play.  The good news for St. Louis was they were able to get their first win Sunday to stay within reach the division leading Reds as Jamie Garcia pitched a complete game, the second in his career.

San Diego now travels home to take on the defending champions, San Francisco Giants, in a two game series starting Tuesday afternoon.