Following a first inning hiccup, Greg Maddux cruised to victory # 346. In his first inning of work, Maddux allowed two hits, two walks and one earned run. Over his next six innings, he allowed only one hit while striking out five and walking none. Cla Meredith, who had not pitched over the weekend, then came in to work a flawless 8th inning.
Then, with a seven run lead, manager Buddy Black went to Enrique Gonzalez to finish the game. Gonzalez responded in what I’m coming to believe is typical Gonzalez fashion by allowing two runs before recording his first out. Fortunately for Padre fans, Gonzalez’ 1:1 run to out ratio only managed to turn the 8-1 rout into a slightly less laughable 8-4 victory.
Offensively, the Padres exceeded their run output from the entire Dodgers series. Adrian Gonzalez had a great day going 4 for 5 with a two run home run that put the Padres ahead for good in the top of the first inning. Khalil Greene also stood out going 2 for 3 with a triple and a sac fly.
Speaking of the offense, I suspect most people haven’t realized how well the Padres have hit this year. This is at least partly due to their strong hitting not consistently translating into run scoring. They are batting as a team .295/.369/.422 which is good for fourth in the Major in 2OPS (which is a better measure than OPS).
Also of note, Padres back up catcher Michael Barret who was removed during the game will make his way to the DL and be replaced by Colt Morton.
