May 7th, 2010 Padres 7 Astros 0

WP Mat Latos 8IP, 2H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 9K, 107P

LP Bud Norris 4IP, 5H, 5R, 4ER, 3BB, 7K, 96P

Not too much to harp on in this one.  Mat Latos was dominant, striking out nine in eight innings and only giving up two hits.  He had a lot of help from the Friars offense, particularly from Scott Hairston who hit two home runs while hitting lead off for the first time this season.

  Chase Headley also hit a two run home run to give Latos much more support than he would need.  Bud Black had a difficult decision to make after the 8th, and elected to end the young right hander’s night there. 

I cannot argue too much with the decision as the game was pretty much out of reach and but it would have been nice to see him go out and try for the complete game shut out.  Either way the Pads got a dominant 7-0 win.

May 8th, 2010 Padres 2 Astros 1

WP Jon Garland 7IP, 2H, 0R, 0ER, 1BB, 2K, 83P

LP Felipe Paulino 7IP, 5H, 2R, 1ER, 0BB, 11K, 115P

Jon Garland is on fire since his rough start to the season.  He has gone from “Oh Jon Garland is starting”, to “OOOO we got Garland going today”, in a very short amount of time. 

That could just be my impatience, but either way he is looking great on the mound.  He pitched seven shut out innings, while only getting two runs of support.  Mike Adams and Heath Bell pitched the 8th and 9th with only Adams giving up a run to seal the win 2-1. 

Adams is effective but he is still making me a little nervous so far this season.  Probably just me being paranoid as I cannot argue with the results.  The Padres seal another series victory with the win as they will go for the sweep tomorrow.

May 9th, 2010 Padres 3 Astros 4

WP Brandon Lyon 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 0K, 5P

LP Ryan Webb, 1.1IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 1K

Of course I will take two out of three anytime, but when you have a sweep in your grasp, and it slips away because of an error, well that is just incredibly frustrating.  I am sure no one feels worse than Jerry Hairston, who threw away an easy out to start off the bottom of the 9th, with the Padres up 3-2, to put the lead off runner on second, in what should have been the first out of the inning. 

The Astros would get the tying run home on a a sac fly, and would go on to win in extras.  Part of the blame should be put on Edward Mujica, who has given up way too many long balls out of the pen this season, including the back to backers he gave up after relieving Tim Stauffer to Carlos Lee and Hunter Pence.  Tim Stauffer had done a great job of keeping the ball down in a tiny park where the ball flies. 

Mujica came in and left his pitches up over the middle of the plate, and they got crushed.  Obviously that is going to happen, but Mujica needs to execute better, as there are plenty of good arms I would like to see called up to take his place.  Sounds harsh I suppose, but you cannot give up that many home runs in the limited innings he has.  He came in with a lead in the last game against the Rockies and quickly gave up the lead there as well. 

Still though the Padres were in a position to win with Heath Bell on the mound and what was a routine ground ball to Hairston Jr. who had time to throw out Carlos Lee, and then threw the ball over Adrian Gonzalez’s head.  To get a three run lead with Roy Oswalt starting for the Astros, and to blow the win in that fashion is very frustrating.  Still, the Padres take two out of three and go on to San Francisco in first place.