Hoffman Clutches Defeat Out Of The Jaws Of Victory

In an all too familiar scene Trevor Hoffman and the Padres were one pitch away from taking the first 3 games of the season against the Astros. With a 6-5 lead and two quick outs, the future Hall Of Fame closer walked Jose Cruz, Jr in front of consecutive singles, the later tying the contest, and a 3 run homer by Lance Berkman. Enrique Gonzalez made his Padre debut in recording the final out of the 9th, but the damage had already been done. The Astros picked up their first win of the season defeating San Diego 9-6.

The Friars battled back after falling into an early 3-0 hole thanks in large part to homers by Scott Hairston (falling in love with Scotty) and Adrian Gonzalez. Brian Giles had a huge game with 3 hits and the go ahead sac fly in the 8th. Michael Barrett earned some FF ink with both his bat and his aggressive base running.

With the NL West expected to be such a tight race, it is tough to lose any game late. Wednesday night's lose just stings a lot more due to the way Hoffman struggled down the stretch last season. Padre fans and FF need to cut Hoffman some slack, as at years end he will (most likely) have compiled his 40 saves with just a handful of outcomes like tonight. The great thing about baseball is that playing tomorrow allows players, fans, and even bloggers the right to have a short memory ~ just like the one of a great relief pitcher.

FF Facts:

The Thursday afternoon affair will highlight the Padre debut of southpaw starter Randy Wolf.

The Padres first error of the season was costly as a low throw across the diamond by Kouzmanoff allowed the first Houston run to cross the plate.

The Padres continue to get great production out of the left field position and catcher. Justin Huber had a knock in his first Padres at bat and made a terrific running catch near the wall in left center. His mid game replacement, P Mac, contributed with a sharp single in his first AB as a pinch hitter. As noted above, Michael Barrett picked up where Josh Bard left off and the Friars have 3 multiple hit games out of their backstops.

Second Guessing:

Well, first guessing really ~ I called for this prior to the outcome of the at bat by Tony Clark. In the bottom half of the 6th inning after Barrett and Paul McAnulty reached base with no outs, manager Bud Black elected to stay with Tony Clark to pinch for the pitchers spot. FF wondered why (in a tie game) Black wouldn't opt for Callix Crabbe to lay down a sacrifice bunt to move 2 runners into scoring position with the top of the lineup right behind him (this would also keep Clark available for the later innings). Unfortunately Clark sharply wrapped into a twin killing. Giles and Iguchi each singled and the Friars came away with just 1 run.

FF has also noticed too strong a reliance on too few pitchers in the bullpen, we were surprised to see Joe Thatcher come out to start the 7th, especially with the right hand hitting Mark Loretta lurking in the Houston dugout to pinch hit for the Astros...Loretta struck out, so maybe we at FF don't know everything! However, there is a major concern of tiring out the Padres bullpen at some point with these constant outings.