Padres Game Recap – Apr. 15, 2015

You don’t tug on Superman’s cape. You don’t spit in the wind. You don’t pull the mask of that old Lone Ranger, and…you don’t throw pitches up in the zone to Justin Upton with the game on the line! You would think of all teams that his former club the Diamondbacks would know this, but they were burned by their former superstar none the less, much to the Padres delight in their 3-2 come from behind victory.

Upton was clearly the hero of the night with his 8th inning, game winning bomb to go along with his two other singles and run scored.  With his successful night at the dish he extended his N.L. leading hitting streak to 12 games (dating back to last season), and raised his avg. to .351 and OPS to .974.  Since leaving the snakes after the 2011 season he has torched his former club at a .377 pace with 5 HR’s and 12 RBI in 15 games.

The other runs were driven in by Yonder Alonso, who is now sporting a .355 avg. with his 2B tonight and a .459 OBP with his BB, and Matt Kemp who continues to show that he knows how to get the job done with runners in scoring position driving in his 7th so far.

The defense shined tonight as well, with Upton earning a Coleman Star with a diving, sliding catch in the 2nd, and Derek Norris gunning down two would be stealers. He pegged Inciarte trying to nab 3rd, and gunned down Pollock on a strike ’em out, throw ’em out inning ending combo in the 8th. With those two throw outs he now has 6 on the season (out of 14 attempts for .429 CS%), after totaling 12 all last year.

Pitching wise, Brandon Morrow started off a little bit rocky allowing a 2-run HR to Goldschmidt while struggling with his control to get the ball down in the zone in the first.  He worked out of trouble in the third, with the help of some overzealous base running by Inciarte noted above to help curtail the rally, then got stronger as the game went on.  His fastball command down improved with each inning and the use of his slider and split finger emerged as well.  All said and done he posted 7 innings of 2-run ball, allowing the offense to set up the dramatic stage for Upton in the 8th.

All that, of course led up to Benoit posting a zero in the 8th to get credit for the win, and Kimbrel coming on to lock down the victory with his 3rd overpowering save of the season.

It all played out exactly as AJP envisioned as he created this club, with the starting pitching keeping the game close, the offense coming with the big hit when needed, and the bullpen locking down the W.  Way to follow the blueprint fellas!  It was all good on the night when MLB remembered and honored Jackie Robinson’s most historic first day in the big leagues with everyone wearing his #42.  By the way, did you know that Jerry Coleman wore #42 his entire career as well?

Having some fun Padres fans?  I thought so…me too!

Tomorrow is a day off with the boys heading to Chicago to take on the Cubbies on Friday. First pitch will be thrown at 11:20, and hope you’ll be joining Uncle Teddy and myself for all the action on the Mighty 1090.

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