Padres Postgame Summary 6/2:

The Padres snatched defeat from the jaws of victory tonight, as they frittered away an early 4-1 lead, and dropped the final game of the series to the Blue Jays 7-4 in 11 innings.

Edinson Volquez started for the Padres, and continued to show that he is a bigger tease than your girlfriend in high school. He comes out firing 94 MPH fastballs, and knee buckling curveballs, and still can’t hold a 3-run lead that he manufactured himself.  Yes, in the 2nd inning with 2 outs, the Jays understandably intentionally walked Venable to get to the .077 hitting Volquez, and he jumped on the first high fastball delivered by Ramon Ortiz and crushed it over the left field wall for a 3-run blast!  But it didn’t take long for him to allow the struggling Jays to get back into the game hanging a curve to Edwin Encarnacion the very next inning to cut the lead to 2.

He struggled in the 4th with his command issuing a walk and allowing a single before fortunately getting Kawasaki to roll over a change up, and getting a very slick and quick double play turned started smoothly by Gyorko.  The 5th did not prove to be quite as luck filled, again putting runners on via a hit and walk, but this time giving up a double to Lind that scored both runners.  A more urgent a decisive route by Alexi Amarista in center field on the ball that ended up over his head may have ended the threat, but with Volquez’s weapons he shouldn’t be constantly needing his defense to come up with big plays to keep runners from scoring.

With the score now tied it once again came down to battle of the bullpens.  Ortiz was forced to leave the game in the 3rd inning for Toronto as he fell to ground after delivering a pitch to the first batter of the inning.  In a gut wrenching reaction, and as his teammates approached the mound to assist him, he then got to his feet just long enough to throw his glove to the ground with is non throwing hand.  He then immediately crumpled bak to the dirt and sobbed as he appeared to show the trainer where he had felt something go out in his throwing elbow.  There was no medical treatment or diagnostic effort being made, just the consoling of the trainer and his teammates as he wept in anguish of the reality of having suffered an injury that quite possibly could mean the end of his MLB career at age 40.  It was a very sobering moment played out in front of the 20, 384 in attendance, and certainly impactful on every player for both teams as they were reminded of just how fragile and fleeting their careers can be.

The Padres bullpen had been brilliant throughout the series, allowing only 1 run 16 innings of work up to that point.  Layne, Ross, Thathcer, Gregerson and Thayer all continued to pit up zeros.  Of particular note Tyson Ross for the second outing in a row came in with the go ahead runs on base, and successful stranded them, and Gregerson and Thayer were dominant as usual.  They got some help in the 8th as well with a fabulous running catch at the base of the wall by Carlos Quentin, saving at least 2 runs from scoring before crashing into the wall.

It was all for naught though, as the Pads were shut down by an overpowering Jays bullpen, and Brad Boxberger in his first outing since being recently recalled fooled no one allowing 3 runs to cross in the 11th.

The good news is the Pads won the series.  The frustrating reality, however, is that they very well could have, and should have been able to complete the sweep.  It seems like no matter how good Volquez pitches one day, or even for a few outings in a row, a leak always seems to eventually spring from the dyke.  And no matter how effectively pitching coach Darren Balsley is able to plug that hole, it’s just a matter of time before a new one appears.  No matter how big the lead, there is always a sense with Edinson that you are just hanging on by your fingernails to it, and that it could disappear any inning faster than you can say “Ball four”.  The stuff is as potentially dominating and tantalizing as ever, but the growing list of squandered leads, and great outings that could have been leads one to believe that like that high school girlfriend, this relationship may be a dead end path to frustration, and unrealized dreams that were pie in the sky fantasies from the very beginning.

We’re on a bus as I type, on our way to Los Angeles to play the Dodgers in a three game set.  Eric Stults and Chris Capuano are scheduled to meet up for the opener, but Capuano is rumored to likely be a pre-game scratch.  I am anxious to see Yasiel Puig, the Dodger prospect called up after their loss today to the Rockies.  He is supposed to be the second coming of Bo Jackson for athletic ability, and Manny Ramirez for his rumored immaturity and lack of concern for team rules.  I;m also curious to see how Carlos Quentin is greeted by the Dodger fans, in his first visit to Chavez Ravine sine his incident with Greinke, who incidentally is not scheduled to be pitching in this series.

Game time tomorrow 7:10.  Hope you’ll join ted Leitner and me for the action on Mighty 1090!

Thanks for checking out this update, and as always your feed back and comments are welcomed.

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