April 29th, 2010 Padres 9 Brewers 0

WP  Wade LeBlanc 6.1IP, 8H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 6K, 108P

LP   Doug Davis 4IP, 8H, 6R, 5ER, 2BB, 5K, 106P

Well, where to start with this one?  First off, there might not be anything more irritating than watching Doug Davis pitch.  On the flip side, Wade LeBlanc is quickly becoming someone who’s turn in the rotation I am looking forward to with great anticipation. 

The Louisiana lefty was spotless again, pitching 6.1 innings of scoreless baseball, bringing his E.R.A down to the microscopic level of 0.52.  He was very effective and along with having great command and striking out six batters, he again did not walk anybody and did not let the Brewers string together any hits, scattering eight over his 6.1 innings.  The Padres offense was very effective and did it all with singles. 

All of the Padres' thirteen hits were singles, which is a very surprising stat, but considering that Doug Davis was on the mound, well frankly weird stuff just seems to happen with him.  The Padres were on fire in the 4th and 5th innings when they did their damage, scoring four in the 4th and five in the 5th, since they apparently are fans of symmetry.  Other interesting things to point out about this hit parade was LeBlanc getting three hits, and Adrian Gonzalez and Chase Headley going 1-9 in the game. 

If the Pads can win with stats like that, then you know things are really going their way.  LeBlanc got into a little bit of a jam in the 7th but Tim Stauffer came in and continued his spotless season, giving up nothing in 2.2 innings of work, running his scoreless innings streak to thirteen to start the season.

April 30th, 2009

WP Clayton Richard 6IP, 4H, 0R, 0ER, 3BB, 8K, 98P

LP Dave Bush 7IP, 6H, 3R, 3ER, 4BB, 3K, 108P

Clayton Richard had been on the outside looking in, in terms of wins in April even though he had pitched well enough to win in each of his starts. 

Dave Bush was pitching as well as if not better than Richard for most of the game until the 7th inning went Scott Hairston took him deep with brother Jerry on 2nd for his 1st pinch hit home run of the season, to make it 3-0 Friars.  Having the previous night off, the late inning trio of Gregerson, Adams and Bell came in and looked sharp.  The Brewers never posed a threat and Heath Bell struck out the side in the 9th for his 7th save of the season. 

The Padres got their 5th shutout of the young season, and have run their scoreless inning streak to 24.  The last time they were leading the division going into May?  The last time they went to the World Series in 1998.

May 1st, 2009 Padres 1 Brewers 2

WP Yovani Gallardo 7IP, 6H, 1R, 1ER, 2BB, 11K, 121P

LP Mat Latos 6IP, 6H, 2R, 2ER, 3BB, 4K, 103P

Well this game had a little bit of everything.  Pitchers cranking home runs, pitchers in a duel, strikeouts galore and the first ever ejection of Adrian Gonzalez. 

Starters Gallardo and Latos were excellent, with Gallardo striking out 11 Padre bats, and Latos showing a lot of moxie and getting himself out of a couple of jams.  Latos got hurt on two pitches he left up and in turn were left up over the wall. 

Gallardo and Rickie Weeks were the only runs of the night for the Brewers, and overall Latos was tough.  Only giving up two runs to an offense like the Brewers will draw no complaints from me.  Latos put the Padres in a position to win, unfortunately Gallardo was just better. 

Some might argue Gallarado got some help from the home plate ump, who had a liberal interpretation of the strike zone, but ultimately the onus falls on the Padre hitters.  As the saying goes, athletes adjust, and the Padres hitters consistently did not protect the plate with two strikes, which is something you must do. 

Gallardo got some calls that should have been balls, but they were close enough that the Padre hitters needed to get the bats off of their shoulders.  As frustrating as the umpiring was, I was more frustrated by the Padres lack of aggressiveness, trying to nitpick pitches that was close enough to attack.  One thing I did not agree with at all, was the ejection of Adrian. 

Adrian as we know, is a fairly quiet guy on the diamond, rarely arguing calls.  He argued this one, not for very long, and by his own accord did not even use vulgar language, or demean the ump in any way.  The umpire even pointed his finger in Adrian’s face in a agitating way that was just not needed. 

Hopefully the MLB will reprimand the ump for the uncalled for ejection.  Overall the Padres have to feel good with Latos, and that they still were in a position to win with the bad strike outs and the ejection.  The pitching has been dominant and is going to keep them in a lot of ballgames.

Note: Tim Stauffer has still not given up a run out of the bullpen this season in 15.1 innings.

May 2nd, Padres 8, Brewers 0

WP Jon Garland 7IP, 3H,0R, 0ER, 5BB, 3K, 109P

LP Randy Wolf, 5IP, 6H, 4ER, 6BB, 5K, 114P

Well Jon Garland is certainly earning my admiration.  Most love a pitcher who will ring up high strikeout numbers, which Garland did in his last outing, but give me a pitcher who gets quick ground outs any day of the week.  Garland made quick work of the Brewers in his outing, as they never really mounted a scoring threat. 

As for the Padre offensive, I was curious to see how they would respond without Adrian in the lineup, who was getting his first day off of the season. 

They responded well with Scott Hairston hitting cleanup, and Kyle Blanks, hitting 5th, going back to back on solo shots in the bottom of the 5th to double the Padres lead from 2 to 4 off of started Randy Wolf.  The game also saw the major league debut of Padre infielder Lance Zawadski, who got a single his first at bat, and eventually scored on a Tony Gwynn Jr. triple. 

The Padres get another series, taking three of the four against the Brewers, and completely neutered the Milwaukee offense in the process.  The Brewers had come into San Diego, as the highest scoring team in the National League, putting up football like scores of twenty and seventeen in two games in the week before they came to San Diego. 

In the four games, the Brewers scored a total of two runs, being shut out in the three Padre wins.  For the Padres to be successful they obviously are going to rely heavily on their pitching, but they need to be a great home team and use the advantage they have at Petco which has given them great results through the first month of the season.

Note: The Padres outscored the Brewers 21-2 over the four games.