On Thursday night the Padres became the first team in seven years to lose a game they led by 10 runs. How do you come back the next day and play after a meltdown like that? Manager Andy Green had a good feeling before Friday night's game against the Rockies.
“I was thrilled to see the upbeat, positive attitude I felt in the clubhouse today when I got in,” said Green before the opener of the three game series against Colorado. “I didn’t feel any people hanging heads. Obviously nobody wanted that game to play out the way it did yesterday. What I see in the guys right now is we’ve got the Rockies in town and we resolve to go beat them.”
I give these guys full marks for having a really short memory.
The Friars rebounded for a 4-0 win over Colorado. If getting off to a good start was important, San Diego did just that against starter Chris Rusin.
Jon Jay singled (his 10th hit in the last three games) and Wil Myers reached on an error, setting the table for Matt Kemp to turn a baseball in to a projectile.
Kemp ripped a 458-foot, 3run home run to put the Padres on top 3-0. They padded their lead in the 4th inning. With the bases loaded and pitcher Drew Pomeranz at the plate Melvin Upton Jr. took advantage of Rusin’s slow delivery, breaking from 3rd base and scoring on a straight steal.
Upton is the first Padre to steal home since Everth Cabrera did it against the Dodgers in 2012. The extra run was nice but not necessary.
Pomeranz continued the “bounce back” theme with a great outing. After getting roughed up for six runs in 5.0 innings in Arizona, he came back to a place he loves to pitch.
Pomeranz tossed 7.0 shutout innings, allowing just a pair of hits and striking out eight. Check out his numbers in four starts at Petco Park this year:
3-1 record
0.74 ERA
28 K
That’s not too shabby and since the All-Star Game is at Petco Park manager Terry Collins is probably going to take a good, long look at adding the San Diego lefty to his staff for the Midsummer Classic.
The Padres can win the series on Saturday night when Andrew Cashner takes the mound against Chad Bettis.
