Thursday, April 19, 2012

Return to Petco...

After a late night flight from Denver, the Padres are back home and ready to open up the second homestand of the 2012 season.  Even after a 1-5 road trip, there were some positives to focus on...


- Chase Headley is turning it on offensively.  He's already homered as many times this year (4) as he did all of last season.  Headley is hitting .371 (13x35) with 4 homers and 11 rbi's over his last 10 games.


- Nick Hundley is hitting.  After an 0 for 21 start to the season, Hundley has 7 hits in his last 15 at bats (.467) including his first homer of the season in Denver. 


- The Padres bullpen ranks third in the majors and 1st in the NL with a 2.17 ERA. 


Obviously a 3-10 start to the season would indicate some negatives as well, such as leading the league in strikeouts, as Padres hitters have gone down on strikes 100 times. 


Tonight, the Philadelphia Phillies come in for their only visit this season.  Philadelphia has owned the Padres here at Petco winning 22 of the 26 meetings between the teams.  The Padres have lost 11 in a row to the Phillies here, their last win against the Phils, came on August 16, 2008.  The Padres have been swept in each of the last three seasons.


Lineup tonight (XX 1090, Leitner and Scanlan)
v. Vance Worley (first ever appearance v. SD)


LF - Will Venable
CF - Cameron Maybin
3B - Chase Headley
RF - Jeremy Hermida
1B - Yonder Alonso
 C - John Baker
SS - Jason Bartlett
2B - Orlando Hudson
SP - Joe Wieland


Wieland is making his second major league start.  He went 5 innings against the Dodgers, giving up 6 runs, on 3 homers.  He did settle in after the tough beginning, setting down 9 of the final 11 batters he faced, including the last 7 in a row.  


Notes and Bolts:


- You'll notice above that Cameron Maybin is not in the leadoff spot for the first time this season. Maybin has gotten off to a slow start, going 2 for 19 on the last road trip.  Bud Black put Maybin in the #2 slot tonight, to "give him a different look, a different perspective on the game and maybe free him up a bit".  


- Carlos Quentin took batting practice on the field today as scheduled.  He also did some outfield drills with Dave Roberts, and shagged during batting practice.  According to Black, Quentin is on schedule as far as the medical team is concerned.  The initial prognosis was 4-6 weeks and we are about a month out from surgery. 


- I talked to Dustin Moseley today in the video room.  He's been away from the ball club for a few days, still "trying to make sense of it all", concerning his shoulder injury.  Moseley still hasn't made a decision officially on whether or not to have surgery on the shoulder.  


Affordable fun:


According to the 2012 Fan Cost Index, the Padres have the most inexpensive average ticket ($15.67) in baseball. MLB average is $26.98.  The Padres are the 2nd most affordable team to see in baseball, a family of four averages spending around $150 when factoring in food, parking and tickets.  


Take care!


Andy



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