The pitching once again got it done in a Padres victory. Chris Young was in trouble early and often last night thanks to a lack of command, but managed to work his way out of jams until the sixth when he was finally pulled with the bases loaded. Joe Thatcher’s first appearance of the season was nerve-wracking but ultimately effective enough to maintain the lead.
Thatcher was followed in order by Cla Meredith, Heath Bell and Trevor Hoffman (who notched career save #525) all of whom posted zeros in the Run column securing a 2-1 win over the Houston Astros. With the success of the pitching staff, it’s worth noting that a large portion of that success is due to an incredibly low batting average allowed on balls in play that is unsustainable.
The offensive attack wasn’t as effective as it was Opening Day thanks to a lack of power, but ultimately it was Scott Hairston’s two run home run (one of two extra base hits on the night) that put the Padres ahead for good. And just because the lineup wasn’t as effective isn’t to say that it was bad. As a team the Friars posted an on-base percentage over .370 which is exceptional.
The Padres’ real problem was the grouping of walks and hits more than the amount. 13 TB and a .371 OBP equals just under five runs created, which suggests the low run total was primarily attributable to poor situational hitting or poor luck depending upon how you want to look at it (1 for 4 w/RISP and the lone hit was an infield single).
Aside from the poor RISP numbers, the only other discouraging aspects of last night’s game were a series of poor at bats by clean up hitter, Adrian Gonzalez, and a baserunning blunder by last night’s hero, Scott Hairston.
In three of Gonzalez’ four at bats, he swung early, made weak contact, and/or swung at pitches out of the zone. In his second AB, though, Gonzalez showed by contrast just how bad his other ABs were when he worked the count in his favor then drove a hard fly ball to deep center field. Hopefully, we’ll see more of that and less of the impatient, undisciplined approach we saw the rest of the night.
As for Hairston’s baserunning, he made the inexcusable mistake of assuming the inning was over and quitting on the play. He admitted his error in a post-game interview and again we can only hope this is an isolated incident.
And because I hate to end on a negative note, I’d just like to point out that Tadahito Iguchi, Khalil Greene, Josh Bard and Paul McAnulty are all batting at least .500 through two games.
