Padres starting pitching looks good in LA

Monday May 4, 2008

Or as I like to say, Cinco de Mayo Eve and time to start the party!

I have been accused, rightly or wrongly, of being critical of the San Diego Padres defense, so this post is my kool aid drinkers panacea.

In 3 of the 4 games against the Dodgers the starting pitcher has gone 6 or more innings and given up 4 or less runs.

In two of the games the starting pitchers were outstanding with only 1 run given up by the starters in the two games combined and the starters going a combined 15 innings. Normally that is good enough to win at least two games.

And this was against the Los Angeles Dodgers, far and away the best offensive team in the NL so far this season.

As I posted earlier, in my opinion Chad Gaudin was rushed to the majors and was not really ready. He got through his first start on pure adrenaline, but was due to get pounded at least once. He simply did not have the time to build up his arm strength in the minors and really should have had at least 2 more minor league starts to get to up to 100 pitches and 6 ip before being called up. Unfortunately, injuries did not give the Padres the luxury of waiting.

As in 2008, the Padres biggest problems have been caused by injuries. As of today the Padres once again lead the league in player days on the DL.

I believe Gaudin will prove to be a great pickup as the Padres number 3 pitcher and Baek coming back by mid May will further strengthen the starting staff.

Lets hope that the team as a whole can win enough to keep them in the hunt until those two pitchers are ready.

A positive note for the offense is that they are still scoring more runs than either the Giants or the Diamondbacks in the West and more than the Braves, Reds and Astros in the rest of the NL. At 4 runs per game the Padres are still scoring more per game than last season.