7 in a ROW and 2nd place too!

Saturday May 23, 2009

7 Wins in a Row and the Padres move into 2nd place in the NL West.

Just home from the game and it was a beauty! Jake Peavy threw his second straight gem and the bullpen once again shut the door as the San Diego Padres beat the Chicago Cubs for their 7th win in a row.

In his first start as a Padre, Tony Gwynn Jr. led off the game with a walk and doubled in the 5th inning, scoring both times. Gwynn's first two plate appearances as a Padre resulted in a walk and he eventually scored a run both times.

Brian Giles went 1 for 2 with a walk and drove in two runs. For a guy that is hitting only .166, it is amazing that he already has 17 rbi.

Adrian Gonzalez broke out of his slump on this home stand with an opposite field blast in the 7th. Gonzalez is tied with Raul Ibanez for the major league lead in home runs with 16.

Peavy threw 6 innings of shutout ball allowing just 2 hits while striking out 10 in a dominating performance for his 4th win of the season. After the failed trade attempt earlier in the week, Peavy showed amazing poise and focus. Peavy lowered his era to 3.48 for the season.

Luke Gregerson pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings and Edward Mujica went 1 full inning without allowing a run before giving way to closer Heath Bell with 2 out in the 9th after giving up a pair of singles to Alfonso Soriano and Ryan Theriot.

Bell walked Kusuke Fukudome before inducing a pop foul to the 1st base side from Cubs 1st baseman Derrek Lee for his 12th save of the season.

There was a scary moment in the 1st inning when Eckstein squared around to bunt and was hit by a Zambrano fastball in the upper chest. Eck stayed down for several minutes before getting up and taking his base. This was the 2nd game in a row that he was hit by a pitch after taking a 97 mph fastball in the arm from Giants closer Brian Wilson last night and he was replaced in the field by Edgar Gonzalez in the top of the 2nd.

Peavy plunked Cubs 3B Bobby Scales in the leg in what appeared to be a retaliatory fashion to start the 2nd inning and both benches recieved warnings, but there was no escalation or altercations.

Carlos Zambrano, in his first start since returning from the diabled list, went 4 2/3 innings giving up 3 runs on 3 hits and 4 walks while striking out 7. It was Zambrano's 2nd loss of the season.