Friars Top Nevin Look-alikes

The Friars scratched their way to a rare victory, toping the Bucs 6-5 in a game full of oddities. For starters, former Padre super-prospect Xavier Nady, ostensibly exiled by former Padre manager Bruce Bochy for not being a veteran, was traded from the Nevins to the hated Yankees after one at-bat, vacating the 5-hole in the process. Additionally, despite a horrible tag by rusty Josh Bard,who collected a pair of hits, a Brian Giles to Edgar Gonzalez to Bard combination erased a runner at the plate. This out proved to be crucial as Heath Bell would eventually have a bad outing, continuing his recent streak. The Friars also collected a double play at third and second, taking advantage of overly aggressive Pirate baserunners. To extend the oddities, Trevor Hoffman looked like his old self. FF has to say that this is the first game in some time that has kept our attention. Let's all hope for a few more like this one.

Friar Factoids:

• With just 2 more wins, the Padres will ensure that win at least 25% of their games this season.
• Scott Hairston's hot streak is very officially over - he earned the golden sombrero batting leadoff. That said, his hard baserunning prevented a double play, so we still give Scotty a thumbs up for the evening. He also made a good catch in the eighth to save Heath Bell from accumulating addtional earned runs.