When Last I Saw The Padres In Frisco

It's no secret that, after Petco and PNC, Pac Bell is my favorite ballpark in baseball. The location downtown is choice, the views of the water are epic and the food and beverage options are plenty.

San Francisco is a fantastic town in general and I've had the luck to visit it often in the past few years, most recently in July 2009 when I took in a Buccos-Pirates game in between days of the California Bar Examination. Matt Cain and Zach Duke dueled in a 0-0 tie through 9 (Boch let Cain pitch the full 9 innings, 111 pitches) before the Gints won it on a Randy Winn single in the 10th. The stadium was packed and it was a gorgeous, sunny day.

Rewind about 22 months earlier when I was in town on a Monday night and my visit coincided with a Drinos roadtrip. If you'll recall September 2007, the Padres were in the midst of a pennant race and fielded an excellent team, but had just been swept by the Rockies at home (a haunting preview in retrospect), including, the day before, a loss in the infamous "Milton Bradley Game," where Bud Black accidentally tore up Milton's knee while trying to prevent him from murdering an umpire. Milton had homered in that game, his 11th in 169 plate appearances as a Padre, but would never bat again that season.

It was under that gloomy cloud that the Padres took the field at Pac Bell on Monday, September 24, 2007. My specific memories of the game aren't many, but I do recall a few details:

- Before the game I had a few beers at a sports bar near the park - I think it was O'Neil's, but it may have been Kate O'Brien's or even the Brickhouse - and watched the MNF pregame show. It was a Saints game and I remember thinking that Brees likely wouldn't lead the Saints any further than he had the previous season when the Saints lost to the Bears in the NFC Championship game. I remember having that exact thought. So much for predictions.

- Right before game time, I scalped three seats in the 200-level club section just to the right of home plate. The tickets cost surprisingly little and my two friends - both students at Berkeley at the time - were pleased with the price. We housed many gourmet food items throughout the game.

- The game itself is murky, likely because the Padres got rolled. I do remember seeing Klesko in closeup on the jumbotron, and, looking at the boxscore now, he did have a solid game (2-5, 2 runs scored, a ribeye). For the Padres, of course Adrian doubled and had 3 hits, and Brady Clark, taking over for Milton Bradley, had 2 hits, one of them a double. I was probably hopeful at that point that Brady was the answer for the stretch run. So sad.

- CY got rocked in this game, which was not a good sign. I also see the Padres ran out Cla Meredith in relief. It's a nice feeling to know that, as marginally good as Cla was in his seasons with the Padres, he would be the worst relief pitcher on this year's squad. That thought gives me comfort the Padres can pull this thing out this season.

That's all I remember at the moment. I won't be in Frisco for the series this weekend, but I'm more or less certain the Drinos can get it dun without me. Tonight Clay Richard leads the charge against Jonathan Sanchez and crew.

It's safe to say that Sanchez will be eating his words by night's end.

Losing Is A Disease, As Contagious As Polio ...

James Van Der Beek,

I know how you feel, man. That's the same face I made today when I saw the Padres had blown yet another late lead and lost once again to the lowly Arizona Snakenbacks.

Just a heinous set of games the last few days.

Check out this string of shyte:

Sunday: Down all game to the hated Dadgers, the Padres score five runs in the bottom of the 9th only to have the potential game-winning run thrown out at third and then to lose in the 13th on a James Loney bomb. Pads lose 7-6.

Monday: Padres lead 5-3 heading into the 8th until Luke Gregerson gives up two tying runs - punctuated by a Chad Tracy bomb - and Cla Meredith gives up the game winning single to Mark Reynolds, made possible by a 2-out walk to Justin Upton. Pads lose 6-5.

Tuesday: Padres make 3 errors in the third inning and are down 4-1 but manage to close the gap to 1-run before falling short after leaving the tying run on second with nobody out in the 8th. Pads lose 4-3.

Today: The Padres are up 2-1 going to the bottom of the 8th after a sterling start by Chad Gaudin. Unfortunately a disgusting 5-run 8th by the DBacks - set up in part by, of all things, an Adrian error - leads to yet another poor poor pitiful ending. Pads lose 6-2.

James, what would Dawson do in this situation?

I'll take ideas from anyone at this point.

Best,
Bevormo

Good Pitching Cures Hangovers

Jake,

Stellar game today at home against Cincy. You pitched a complete game 4-hitter with 9 Ks, the only real blemish a 6th inning bomb you relinquished to somebody on the Reds named Dickerson. That kid just got lucky. You were dominant today. I don't recall your pitches looking so unhittable, at least not this season. I see your ERA dropping into the 2s before long with stuff like that.

I feel bad though because I didn't watch every pitch. I was on the sofa in my living room napping off a margarita/red wine hangover (that's a dangerous mix, my friend) and would go in-and-out of sleep while the game played on the television. It seemed like every time I woke up one of your sliders was breaking off at a ridiculously late moment as it passed over the plate, or one of your fastballs was painting a corner of the plate for a sweet called strike. Absolutely nasty.

Needless to say it was one of the best naps I've ever had.

You're probably pumped today from your performance, but I bet you're also stoked based on what the boys in the bullpen did in last night's dramatic 16-inning 6-5 win over the Redlegs. I missed the game because I chose to eat salami but from what I see in the box score, the bullpen was perfect. Just look at these numbers:

Joe Thatcher - .1 IP, 1 K
Greg Burke (MLB debut, sorry I missed it, Greg) - 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 K
Cla Meredith - 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R
Heath Bell - 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 K
Edward Mujica - 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 K
Luke Gregerson - 3 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 3 Ks
Luis Perdomo - 3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 K

I'm no mathemetician, Jake, but that looks to me like 10.1 innings of relief pitching, with 0 runs allowed and 8 Ks. I'm no chef either but that looks like a recipe for victory.

And all that relief pitching set up Nick Hundley's 2-out, walk-off bomb in the bottom of the 16th.

What a weekend of Padre baseball.

Best,
Bevormo