Chase Headley going out of the box after his second RBI double of the day.
Love it when the bats come alive! And come alive they did today as the Padres punished the Rangers early taking them down 11-6. It really wasn’t even as close as that as the Pads were up 9-0 before the second inning was over. The Friars banged out 13 hits, including 7 for extra bases. Carlos Quentin and Will Venable each contributed with a home run, and every Padre in the starting lineup had at least one safety.
One interesting note in this game was that there was a challenge by Ron Washington on an inning ending play at the plate. It was a bang-bang play with the Rangers runner being called out after a perfectly executed relay from Quentin, to Cabrera, to Grandal. The replays apparently showed that the runner was actually safe, and the call was reversed. By now most of you probably know that I am not an advocate of more instant splay in the game. I simply don’t need it to enjoy a baseball game regardless of whether the calls are “correct” or not. That being said, the process worked relatively smoothly and quickly today, in reversing the call. It was the first unobtrusive use of the rule in my opinion, and would have been an important reversal had it been a close game.
So, that was the good news today. Now for the unexpected challenging news…the Padres are looking for a starting pitcher to replace Josh Johnson’s spot in the rotation after it was announced late yesterday that he would miss at least 1 month with a strained flexor pronator muscle. Troubling news indeed, and certainly a surprise as Johnson had been throwing extremely well and seemingly pain free all spring. Apparently he started to feel some discomfort on the outside of his elbow during his last start and it eventually traveled to the inside area. The training staff treated the area for a couple of days without success, leading to an MRI that revealed the strain.
So wehre do the Padres go from here? First of all, they should have enough options to take care of the problem internally. Matt Wisler, and Robbie Erlin will get the first opportunities. Second, the Pads have 3 off days in the first 11 days, so they may not need a 5th starter but once in the first two weeks of the season. Matt Wisler had the first chase to stake a claim to the spot, but did not overwhelm anyone today going 2 2/3 allowing 5 hits, and 5 earned runs after being posted a 9-run lead. Robbie Erlin will get likely get a chance to throw some extended innings to see if he can grab it and run. In case you are wondering, Tim Stauffer is not viewed an option as he has not been stretched out enough, and is still considered valuable coming out of the bullpen as the long man especially if there is a question about the ability of Johnson’s replacement to go deep in games.
Some good news on the injury front is that Chase Headley continues to show he’s healthy, and is swinging the bat well with two RBI doubles today. Yasmani Grandal played 7 innings again today in back to back games for the first time, showing that he is close to being able to catch a full nine. Finally Chris Denorfia’s shoulder is getting better and may be in a game in the next couple of days.
The Padres will make another round of cuts before they break for San Diego on Wednesday. The toughest may be for the last bench spot if Denorfia is healthy presumably leaving only one spot, and the last bullpen spot. Xavier Nady, Tommy Medica, and Xavier Nady have all played well going for that last bench spot, and as for the last ‘pen spot Buddy has indicated multiple times recently that Donn Roach is being strongly considered, meaning that Alex Torres would presumably be the sole lefty in the ‘pen. As for the notion that they might keep three catchers, there has been less and less talk of that recently, which would bringing up the dilemma of how to keep from losing Rene Rivera who is out of options and would have to be put through waivers if Grandal and Hundley are the two catchers.
Will be interesting to see what happens during these final 6 days before the season starts. In the mean time you can listen to the games on the mighty 1090. Tomorrow Jesse Agler and myself will benign the call at 7:00 pm when the Pads take on the Cubs at their new Cubs Park spring training facility in Mesa. Hope you’ll join us!
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