yagsy
09-28-2006, 04:29 PM
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/padres/20060928-9999-1s28padres.html
NL West lead is trimmed to a game over the Dodgers
By Tom Krasovic
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
September 28, 2006
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060928/images/padres.jpg
TOM GANNAM / Associated Press
Padres reliever Cla Meredith rubs up a new ball after Albert Pujols' three-run homer in the eighth.
ST. LOUIS – The Padres had vowed not to let Albert Pujols beat them during their three nights in St. Louis. On the third night, he did.
Punishing the Padres for allowing him the chance to decide the game, the National League's reigning Most Valuable Player hit a three-run home run to lead the Cardinals to a 4-2 victory, which narrowed San Diego's lead in the National League West to one game with four to go.
The eighth-inning drive went some 425 feet at Busch Stadium, where the Padres were four outs short of a three-game sweep, and where manager Bruce Bochy received proof that reliever Cla Meredith has his limits.
Bochy was rewarded on Tuesday for using Meredith just hours after saying he planned to rest him, but when the sidewinder's sinker failed to sink last night, possibly owing to fatigue from a sixth appearance in seven days, Pujols hammered the 1-0 pitch for his 47th home run. Nineteen have yielded a winning RBI.
“I went to the well once too often,” Bochy said. “But the kid's done a great job. Pujols has done that a few times.”
The Padres (85-73) still have the inside track to their second consecutive NL West title going into tonight's game at Arizona, and they lead Philadelphia by two games in the wild-card race. The defeat was the Padres' first in seven games, a stretch in which many of Bochy's decisions have paid off.
Before Meredith allowed just his second home run in 49 2/3 innings, the Padres had several chances to either pull away, or ensure that Pujols would bat in a less dangerous situation.
Most notably, Scott Linebrink (7-4) issued two walks in a four-batter sequence before handing the ball to Bochy and, in turn, Meredith. Linebrink, working his third consecutive game, threw several high pitches, a sign of fatigue. He walked two hitters, So Taguchi and Aaron Miles, who had four home runs combined in more than 700 at-bats.
“Tired or not, you've got to get it done,” Linebrink said.
The San Diego offense had chances to give a substantial lead to the team's dominant starting pitcher, Chris Young, who allowed three hits and one run in seven innings.
But after allowing a first-inning run, Cardinals rookie Anthony Reyes threw five shutout innings, somewhat improbably. Reyes had entered with a 4.92 ERA. And he labored, throwing 30 pitches in the first, 58 through three innings and 73 through four.
Still, the Padres entered the home eighth with a 2-1 lead, thanks to a go-ahead run in the eighth that pinch-runner Khalil Greene scored on Tyler Johnson's 2-2 wild pitch to .190-batting Mark Bellhorn.
Bochy unplugged Young, who had thrown 92 pitches, and brought in Linebrink, his eighth-inning specialist.
Afterward, it got interesting. Bochy said he decided against Young in the eighth, because the right-hander's back had tightened up, adding that Young had also experienced back tightness in his previous game – the gem in which Young began with 8 1/3 hitless innings.
“His back really tightened up,” Bochy said.
Young said the decision wasn't his. He seemed irked that his back was a postgame subject.
“It's something that I don't expect to be an issue,” Young said.
Pujols became an issue when the Padres elected against walking him after Meredith entered with Cardinals on first and second and two outs. On deck was Scott Spiezio, batting .267 with 12 home runs.
Bochy had seen Meredith strike out Pujols on Monday. Right-handers had gone 11-for-109 (.101) against the sidewinder, who had allowed one earned run in his prior 42 2/3 innings for an ERA of 0.21.
“If I don't have Meredith, I walk Pujols,” Bochy said. “That's the confidence I have in the kid.”
Meredith didn't get the strike call on his first pitch, an outside sinker. The next one went down the middle, a few inches above the knees, and Pujols belted it into the third-highest of four decks.
“He's Albert Pujols,” Meredith said. “I might have thrown that pitch a hundred times and gotten away with it. He got me that time.”
Said Bochy: “It's a tough spot I put him in. I know.”
NL West lead is trimmed to a game over the Dodgers
By Tom Krasovic
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
September 28, 2006
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060928/images/padres.jpg
TOM GANNAM / Associated Press
Padres reliever Cla Meredith rubs up a new ball after Albert Pujols' three-run homer in the eighth.
ST. LOUIS – The Padres had vowed not to let Albert Pujols beat them during their three nights in St. Louis. On the third night, he did.
Punishing the Padres for allowing him the chance to decide the game, the National League's reigning Most Valuable Player hit a three-run home run to lead the Cardinals to a 4-2 victory, which narrowed San Diego's lead in the National League West to one game with four to go.
The eighth-inning drive went some 425 feet at Busch Stadium, where the Padres were four outs short of a three-game sweep, and where manager Bruce Bochy received proof that reliever Cla Meredith has his limits.
Bochy was rewarded on Tuesday for using Meredith just hours after saying he planned to rest him, but when the sidewinder's sinker failed to sink last night, possibly owing to fatigue from a sixth appearance in seven days, Pujols hammered the 1-0 pitch for his 47th home run. Nineteen have yielded a winning RBI.
“I went to the well once too often,” Bochy said. “But the kid's done a great job. Pujols has done that a few times.”
The Padres (85-73) still have the inside track to their second consecutive NL West title going into tonight's game at Arizona, and they lead Philadelphia by two games in the wild-card race. The defeat was the Padres' first in seven games, a stretch in which many of Bochy's decisions have paid off.
Before Meredith allowed just his second home run in 49 2/3 innings, the Padres had several chances to either pull away, or ensure that Pujols would bat in a less dangerous situation.
Most notably, Scott Linebrink (7-4) issued two walks in a four-batter sequence before handing the ball to Bochy and, in turn, Meredith. Linebrink, working his third consecutive game, threw several high pitches, a sign of fatigue. He walked two hitters, So Taguchi and Aaron Miles, who had four home runs combined in more than 700 at-bats.
“Tired or not, you've got to get it done,” Linebrink said.
The San Diego offense had chances to give a substantial lead to the team's dominant starting pitcher, Chris Young, who allowed three hits and one run in seven innings.
But after allowing a first-inning run, Cardinals rookie Anthony Reyes threw five shutout innings, somewhat improbably. Reyes had entered with a 4.92 ERA. And he labored, throwing 30 pitches in the first, 58 through three innings and 73 through four.
Still, the Padres entered the home eighth with a 2-1 lead, thanks to a go-ahead run in the eighth that pinch-runner Khalil Greene scored on Tyler Johnson's 2-2 wild pitch to .190-batting Mark Bellhorn.
Bochy unplugged Young, who had thrown 92 pitches, and brought in Linebrink, his eighth-inning specialist.
Afterward, it got interesting. Bochy said he decided against Young in the eighth, because the right-hander's back had tightened up, adding that Young had also experienced back tightness in his previous game – the gem in which Young began with 8 1/3 hitless innings.
“His back really tightened up,” Bochy said.
Young said the decision wasn't his. He seemed irked that his back was a postgame subject.
“It's something that I don't expect to be an issue,” Young said.
Pujols became an issue when the Padres elected against walking him after Meredith entered with Cardinals on first and second and two outs. On deck was Scott Spiezio, batting .267 with 12 home runs.
Bochy had seen Meredith strike out Pujols on Monday. Right-handers had gone 11-for-109 (.101) against the sidewinder, who had allowed one earned run in his prior 42 2/3 innings for an ERA of 0.21.
“If I don't have Meredith, I walk Pujols,” Bochy said. “That's the confidence I have in the kid.”
Meredith didn't get the strike call on his first pitch, an outside sinker. The next one went down the middle, a few inches above the knees, and Pujols belted it into the third-highest of four decks.
“He's Albert Pujols,” Meredith said. “I might have thrown that pitch a hundred times and gotten away with it. He got me that time.”
Said Bochy: “It's a tough spot I put him in. I know.”