Sunday, May 7, 2006

Padres 30-game report card



A Padres-Musing:

My last report card (after 20 games) found my Padres record at 8 wins, 12 losses. They had just lost two games to the D-backs. They lost game 21 to the Snakes, then two more to the Dodgers (making them 8 and 15), and were behind in Sunday's game to the Dodgers 5-0 in the 9th inning. It had been a woeful week at home - losing 5 straight and now a 6th was looming.

So what happened? Well, the Pads got 5 in the 9th, won it in the 11th, and went on the road to Frisco (winning 2 games there), then to Ellay (winning 2 games there), and came home to play the Cubs over the weekend. My Pads won 3 more! So to recap games 21 to 30, the Padres won 7 and lost 3. Overall, after 30 games, they are 15-15, 9-4 on the road, 6-11 at home. With an 8 game winning streak after Sunday's game.

There is hope! Thank God for May (Padre fans will recall that in 2005 they were 22-6 in May, and did not have a winning record in any other month).

The report card:

* Starting pitching : B+ it has been excellent this last week, with the starters averaging 7 innings and keeping the team in every game. The team ERA has come down to around 4.0.

* Relief pitching: A- better work from Embree and Linebrink, with continued excellent work from Cassidy, Sweeney and Hoffman.

* Defense: A- My Pads lead the league in fielding percentage. The infield is tight, the outfield is great, everything's good.

* Hitting: C We are next to last in BA in the NL, and last in HRs. But things are better than they were after 20 games. Bellhorn picked up the team last week, Roberts, Giles, Greene and Barfield are hitting well, Rob Bowen continues to hit in the clutch off the bench, but Piazza, Castilla and Gonzales haven't done much recently. The bench does OK. It could be better, but with the improved pitching, this may be good enough.

* Coaching: B An 8 game winning streak sure takes the pressure off Bochy.

**** OVERALL: C+ for the year, A+ for the last week!

IF IF IF IF IF ... If they can play 0.600 ball (average 6 out of 10) the rest of the year, we can win the pennant. Linda and I are only 1-3 so far this year at Petco, but we go Monday and Wednesday this week. It's probably too much to ask to have a 12 game streak through Thursday, but hope springs eternal in Padre-villa.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

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