Since the All-Star break, the Padres have gone 14-8. That's the best record in the National League.
Now, if they could just figure out how to do that in April, we'll really be rolling!
Monday night at Petco Park, the Padres beat the Rockies 4-3 on some timely hitting (something they haven't gotten a whole lot of in 2014) and amazing bullpen work (something they've gotten since about 2004).
Yangervis Solarte hit a 2-run home run in the 8th inning to put the Friars up 4-3. It was Solarte's third homer as a Padre, and easily the biggest. Yonder Alonso also went deep, a solo shot that gave San Diego a 1-0 lead in the 4th inning.
But it was that dominant bullpen that held things together. Rookie starting pitcher Jesse Hahn have up three runs in 5-plus innings, all of them on one swing of the bat by Corey Dickerson, who hit a 3-run home run in the 6th to put Colorado up 3-1 and knocked Hahn out.
But that was the worst thing that could have happened to the Rockies. Nick Vincent threw the next 2.0 innings, striking out three.
Kevin Quackenbush whiffed the side in the 8th, and Joaquin Benoit did the same in the 9th to preserve the win. Vincent, Quackenbush and Benoit combined to punch out nine of the 12 batters they faced, including the final seven in a row.
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Just another day at the office for the best bullpen in baseball, which now resides with the hottest team on the Senior Circuit.
