Padres Report – July 22nd

Padres' Minor League Report – July 22nd

Hitters:

AAA - P. McAnulty --- 3-6; 3B (4) RBI
AAA - G. Kottaras --- 2-5; 2B (2) RBI
AA - Luis Cruz --- 2-4; 2B (31)
Hi-A - C. Headley --- 2-5; 2B (26), R
Hi-A – N. Hundley --- 2-4; R, RBI, BB, SO
Lo-A – D. Freese --- 1-3; 2B (3), R, BB, 2 SO
Lo-A – M. Bush --- 2-4; RBI, SO
R – C. Hunter --- 2-4; R, BB

Pitchers:

Hi-A - N. Jamison --- 1.1 IP 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO – S (22)

Commentary:

It’s too late and I’m too tired for much commentary, but it’s good to see most of our top minor league hitters do just that.

It’s also good to see Matt Bush doing better. You actually have to be impressed with his RBI without an XBH. Huh? Matt’s biggest hitting problem has been that he would press trying to show off his power (yes, he actually has quite a bit of juice in his bat). The problem was, out of control, he would strike out. Coming to the plate with an RBI-opportunity tonight, and lacing a nice single to get the job done could be a showing of maturity.

On a different note, it killed me to see Eric Young running with 2 outs in the ninth. Now those of you who know me, know I usually defend Bochy (not because I like him, but because I actually think he’s good - at motivating his team and keeping them focused, deflecting criticism from the team, etc. – which I think is more important than the in-game stuff). However…

Tonight, in the 9th, with a closer (Armando Benitez; 22+ IP, 13 BB) on the mound who has a reputation of missing the plate and a hitter at the plate (Rob Bowen) who has already walked three times, Bochy calls for the hit-and-run. We know it was the hit-and-run because the a-fore-mentioned Bowen swung defensively at a pitch when he had the count in his favor (2-1). Furthermore, on a straight steal base runners rarely look back (it slows them down), on hit-and-run plays, they always look back to see if the ball has been popped up and they need to get back to first, etc… EY looked back.

A win on Sunday and we’re back in first.