Padres Report - September 17th

Padres Report – September 17, 2006

Uncle Mo is on our side. Let’s track his journey.

Game 1 – Dodgers win 3-1 – Any time you win the first game of a series, they have the advantage; Uncle Mo dons Dodger blue.
Game 2 – Padres win 11-2 – Evening up a series is big, treating the opposing pitching staff this harshly is huge. Uncle Mo shows up at a Padres party, but doesn’t get too comfortable.
Game 3 – Padres win 2-1 – Uncle Mo buys a Peavy jersey.

***

I hadn’t really thought about it this way, but the ESPN.com (AP) recap from Sunday’s game begins with following gem:

“If it weren't for playing the Los Angeles Dodgers, the San Diego Padres might be lagging in the NL West.”

San Diego's divisional records:

vs. Arizona: 5-7
vs. Colorado: 9-10
vs. Los Angeles: 13-4
vs. San Francisco: 7-12

…and the rest:

vs. NL Central: 21-11
vs. NL East: 16-18
vs. AL: 7-8

You know what though, it still adds up to 78-70. And last time I checked, that was good for 1st place in the NL West.

***

I’m actually somewhat glad that Cla Meredith’s streak is finished. The only way his streak could have ended better, was Cla had a 2+ run lead instead of a single run. But either way, we won… The point is, I don’t want Cla out there thinking, “This is going to end sometime, I sure hope it doesn’t end now.” Psychologists tell us that doing something for the greater good is easier than doing it for you. Now that the streak is finished, Now Cla’s effort won’t be divided by team vs. self (I do not think Cla was thinking of himself first, but I do believe he could have been distracted). And that is a good thing.

***

On July 26th, Jake faced the Dodgers. Including that start Jake has pitched ten times. Other than his disaster start in Colorado on August 27th when he was sick, Peavy has posted the following numbers in his other nine most recent starts:

5-3, 1.89 ERA, 62 IP, 39 H, 13 R, 13 ER, 20 BB, 59 SO, 1.11 GO/AO

Wow! Jake is averaging nearly 7.0 innings per start (6.89) in those nine games. Of course we omitted that one game in Colorado so let’s throw that one back in (it did happen after all):

5-4, 2.45 ERA, 66.1 IP, 47 H, 19 R, 18 ER, 23 BB, 64 SO, 1.20 GO/AO

No matter how we dice it up, since mid-July, Jake has dominated. It's good to have him back.

Look for Uncle Mo in Dodger stadium Monday night. I think he’ll be wearing that Peavy jersey.