Cameron Maybin’s 2 -run home run in the 8th was the highlight of the Padres opener, but that 445′ blast (tied for 7th longest in PETCO history) couldn’t overshadow some costly team breakdowns.
THE GOOD:
- Cameron Maybin’s aforementioned homerun.
- Jesus Guzman’s 2 out RBI double.
- Anthony Bass 2 solid innings of perfect relief.
THE BAD:
- Edinson Volquez’s control problems in the 4th that resulted in 2 runs scoring via bases loaded free passes.
- 3 Padres errors.
- The Padres bullpen, which should be a strength during the year, allowing what would eventually be the winning runs to score.
THE DIFFERENCE:
- Padres not being able to take advantage of a sick and weakened Clayton Kershaw. You don’t get many opportunities to take down the reigning Cy Yong award winner, and when you do you need to capitalize. The Pads had a base loaded opportunity in the 3rd that they could not take advantage of. Kershaw would then be pinch hit for the next inning, and the strength of the Dodgers ball club, their bullpen was handed a lead they would not relinquish.
- Edinson Volquez losing control of his fastball command for an inning. During spring that was something that he had worked on, and was solid the first three innings. The challenge or any starting pitcher is NOT whether or not you’re going to run into some bumps along the way during a start, but how quickly you can make the adjustment to keep it from turning into a game altering situation. Volquez did a great job of adjusting quickly when getting gout of his rhythm during spring, but took longer to get things back on track tonight. To his credit the damage could have been worse, and he threw well again in the 5th.
- Padres defense making costly errors on plays they should have made. Again this was one of the focuses of spring training, and everyone knows that for the Pads wot win games they HAVE to play clean baseball. It didn’t happen tonight.
Cory Luebke will look to get the Padres into the W column tomorrow against the Dodger’s Chad Billingsley. With a typical solid Leubke outing, some solid D, and a couple of timely hits we should be talking about the Pads evening this series at one a piece.
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