Dinelson Lamet has some very good stuff. Robbie Ray does too. But for Padres fans this is the first real view of Lamet in more than a year. Through three innings, he’s allowed a single hit and has 5 K’s. Ray just allowed a hit and has 5K’s too.
Robbie Ray is technical in his pitch distribution tonight, overpowering with high fastballs and using a lot of awkward bouncing breaking balls to fool Padres hitters.
That first hit by Grisham, further proves his acquisition was a stroke of real genius. He certainly seems to fill a consistency void that the Padres are aching to fill year after year. The subsequent walk to Tatis, shows Padres position players have been working on bat control and laying off of pitches.
Padres hitters so far this 2020 season have been very dangerous with 2 outs. The majority of run production has happened under this circumstance. Sure, it’s a single game into the season but that stat holds true here in the bottom of the 3rd. There is no Eric Hosmer in the lineup tonight, but Manny Machado has a chance to show why he’s the $300million dollar man.
Run production is key for the San Diego Padres, especially with the Dodgers as loaded as they are. The LAD are clear favorites, but Dodgers dropped a game to the San Francisco Giants uncharacteristically instead of sweeping the series. With a 2-1 start, it’d be really nice for San Diego fans to see a 2-0 start to the season. Even more importantly is to see it happen against heavyweights like Madison Bumgarner and Robbie Ray.
And Robby Ray pads his K count again with a 6th strikeout against Machado – stranding 2.
Did I neglect to mention how nasty the Dinelson Lamet slider is? It’s sickening, that drop from 12 to 6 on either side of the plate in the last 14 inches of travel before it lands in the catcher’s mitt.
Speaking of catcher’s mitts, Hedges let’s an awkward ball go over the top of the mitt to push the runner to second base. AZ is threatening here with no outs in the 4th. High heat from Lamet gets an extremely generous call from the home plate umpire and he seems unbothered with Marte (Starling) on second. Tommy Pham just barely misses a ball he caught in the preseason a few times and Marte has scored with Walker landing at second.
It’s very cool that Tommy Pham seems so disappointed when he misses ridiculously hard defensive plays, and a lot like Grisham, it seems very obvious his acquisition was a stroke of Genius from the collaboration of the front office and the managerial team. Hunter Renfroe who? No really, we love Hunter, but it is so cool to have such immediate impact in our lineup with a bit better consistency. Hopefully, we don’t miss the Renfroe power later in the season.
Lamet is on 60 pitches here and while he is getting some ridiculous calls in his favor from the home plate umpire who, if he calls another few calls like that, one might suspect he is a Padres staffer. Some of these calls are kind of reaching. But Lamet cruises to his 7th K of the game there are now runners at the corners and 2 outs. A bouncer back to the pitcher closes out the top of the 4th. That inning could have been much worse for Lamet.
Now it is time for some run production from this renewed Padres lineup. Ray seems like he hasn’t been very deep into the pitch count this offseason yet, as his control has been degrading quickly from pitch 55-65. He sure isn’t painting the corners like we are used to seeing him do before he blows heat past a hitter.
Admittedly it’s slightly awkward to flinch every time there is a near wild pitch and hope the home plate umpire isn’t going to call it a strike straightaway. No really though, I’m grateful for the calls in Lamet’s favor still.
Tommy Pham is absolutely channeling Rickey Henderson! His third stolen base in only his second game as a Padre. He’s still on track too, for more than 90 stolen bases. He goes to third as Ty France lobs a single to RF.
Ray looks increasingly uncomfortable as he pushes towards 80 pitches. Wil Myers goes deep and he is channeling Hosmer with a 3 run plate appearance. A well placed three run homerun.
Robby Ray looks like he wants to go sit down. Like his manager has left him behind in enemy territory. He’s now at 95 pitches, and finally Crichton is up in the bullpen.
Lamet relying on what may be a top 10 defense in the majors. This revamped Pad squad plays very good fundamental defense. A quick inning ended with Lamet being credited with his 8th strikeout. Cruising.
Pham continues to impress as he reaches base with an infield single. Profar on the other hand has whiffed a lot, it’s going to be interesting to see if he can hold down a clean up spot for much longer without some better contribution towards run production.
Pham back on track for 120 stolen bases this year. #RickeyIsBack
By the way, the single season record for the Padres for stolen bases is not Rickey Henderson, instead it is held by Alan Wiggins who nabbed 70 bases in 1984. 1984 was a massive season for S.D. even though they would lose the World Series 4-1 to the Detroit Tigers.
Strahm comes in to relieve Lamet, who would still be eligible for the win, even if Marte (who had his number tonight) scores. A heart stopping near homerun, that may get reviewed. Upon reply it is about 14 inches foul. Seven inches would have counted it on the scoreboard though.
Some real flashes of brilliance form this Padres team with a putout by the catcher on an attempted stolen base by the Diamondbacks. Machado in the right spot with the quick tag. This team is fluid right now. On the replay after the break, it sure looks like that baserunner was safe. The umpiring has been a bit flawed, sometimes in favor of the Padres tonight.
The very old school look that Chafin is rocking is reminiscent of pre-modern era baseball with those high pants and socks, and the particular facial hair. It’s a much better overall look than what Mark Grant is slinging with that mustache, but you do you Mark, you legend.
Manny Machado coming through with a homer, to push that score up into safe territory.
The diamondbacks are closing in on 200 pitches for the game, which seems absurd.
Kirby Yates is on the mound and he’s been good of late. He’s not going to get 44 save opportunities this year, for many reasons, but he still has an opportunity to be dominant. And dominant he is at the start of the inning with 2 K’s. Padres win. They are 2-0 and cruising. Let’s see what tomorrow brings. Padres win 5-1 in a game where they showed their increased maturity as a team unit.