Padres Game Recap – Apr. 11, 2015

You wanna slug? We’ll slug!!!  So said the Padres tonight as they clubbed 20 hits en route to a 10-2 shellacking of the Giants tonight in front of a full house at Petco on Baseball Night in San Diego. Not only was it an historic night with the Friars tying the franchise record for hits at Petco in a 9-inning game, but that it came against World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner made it all that more legitimate.  For Bumgarner it was his shortest outing since 2011 as every Friar in the starting lineup had at least one hit in the ball game.

James Shields for his part was…well, James Shields once again.  Tons of first pitch strikes (18 in total), and great use of his fastball and changeup to keep the Giants’ bat barrels off the ball.  He rendered a HR to Arias on a hanging slider, but other than that the mistakes were minimal, and the approach typical James bulldogesque.  He even chimed in for a hit, as previously mentioned, which no doubt will be bragged about around the batting cage tomorrow far more than anything he accomplished on the mound.

As for the offense, the fellas appeared to have a solid approach of looking for the Bumgarner fastball and cutter in early, and the ability to execute it with almost all of their hits heading to the left side of the field. Myers, Solarte, Kemp, Upton, Norris and Middlebrooks all had multiple hits.  The exciting part about this newly constructed lineup is that it is multi faceted, including not only the ability to beat the best starters the game but also to punish bullpens giving the staff some less pressured innings of work, and opportunities for Buddy to get the everyday players off their feet to stay fresh and the subs some PT to stay sharp.  It can help create a self propelling cycle of season long success.

Other game notes:  Kemp made a beautiful diving catching the gap when the game was still in the balance.  Maurer threw a solid inning of relief to close out the game in his Padre debut.  Some less than perfect defense that was pitched over by Shields, and buried under the avalanche of offense.

To go with the blowout Padres win was another fun night of in game entertainment on the new big board, and a post game laser show.  It was truly a Big League Baseball Night in San Diego all around. Thank you Padres ownership, leadership, and baseball operations for bringing an overall MLB experience the likes of which San Diego has never experienced before, but that I hope we all get to enjoy more often throughout the season!

Tomorrow Ross goes against former Padres star Jake Peavy.  First pitch at 1:10. Hope you’ll either join Uncle Teddy and myself for the action on the Mighty 1090, or come say hi to us at the ball park!

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