Hairston, Padres Walk Off To 4th Straight 2-1 Win

Scott Hairston hits another huge game winning bomb. The latest Hairston shot, leading off the 10th frame, propelled the Friars to their forth consecutive 2-1 victory (new MLB record). If it seems like Scotty Hairston only hits homers when his club needs it the most, its because he does; all 9 of his long balls have come with the Padres either trailing or tied. Bryan Corey threw 2 impressive innings before Mike Adams tossed a scoreless inning to pick up his first win of the season.

Pads Points

• Jake Peavy threw over 60 pitches in a simulated game Saturday afternoon and reported no pain. It appears as through Jake was throwing smoothly and getting close to returning.


• Michael Barrett hit his first home run as a Padre with a game tying solo shot in Saturday night's win.


• The Padres 4th straight victory is the longest winning streak of the season, the fact that they have won them all 2-1 is a nice piece of baseball trivia.


• Scott Hairston hit his 3rd walk off home run with the Padres in less than a season.


• The entire NL West has won their last 2 contests, the Padres remain 8 games off the pace in 4th place.

Hey, Bud
FF questioned the move Black made in the 6th when he choose to use Tony Clark in Huber's spot with the bases loaded and 1 out. Clark ended up grounding into a fielders choice that forced Brian Giles at the plate. FF would have preferred using Jody Gerut for many reasons that include, speed, ability, and AB's. We think that Black wanted to keep Gerut to double switch into the 9 spot to extend the top of his line up and bury the pitchers spot for the next time around, but there was an opportunity to put up some runs. In addition, Paul McAnulty should be the #1 left handed option off the bench until Tony Clark starts hitting.

Sitting On The Walk Of The Bay

The San Diego Padres patience at the plate pays off late as they outlast San Francisco in the opener of a 3 game, weekend set by a score of 7-3 in 13 innings. Common place for the Friars this season has been letting opportunities slip through the cracks, and Friday evenings tilt was no different as highlighted by Kevin Kouzmanoff's tough night that included grounding into a triple play in the 8th and a rally ending twin killing in the 10th frame. The Padres 3rd baseman had a chance to redeem himself in the 13th when he found himself at the plate with the bases juiced and just 1 out; Kouz could not come through again as he popped up to the first baseman. Fortunately for Kouzmanoff and the Padres the Giants pitcher lost the strike zone and walked in the deciding run as he issued a free pass to Khalil Greene. An RBI HBP followed, and a 2 run single by Justin Huber capped the 4 run inning in front of a perfect inning by Trevor Hoffman.

Pad Points:

Cha Seung Baek looked great as he struck out the side in order to pick up his 1st win as a Friar.

The Friars used their 20th pitcher of the season on Friday...its still May!!!

No team in the NL West will post a record of over .500 in the month of May

Bryan Corey (who as previously noted by FF pitches with his spikes on the rubber) had his spikes slip out from under him as he was pushing off the rubber, it was a balk and lead to the Giants tying run on the 7th, it will be interesting to see if Corey makes an adjustment.

Fathers Win On Mothers Day; Take Series

The Friars not only won a game Sunday, but they won a series for the first time in 9 tries! The Pads have played baseball with a certain crispness that has been lacking this season. San Diego got a strong outing by Chris Young and some power off the bats of Scott Hairston and Khalil Greene leading the Friars to a 6-1 victory. The majority of the players in both dugouts used the pink colored bats as part of MLB's Mothers Day/Breast Cancer awareness.

Friar Facts:


Tadahito Iguchi is starting to turn it up a notch as the Friars 2nd baseman continues to play stellar D, and added 3 knocks and his second stolen base in as many games.

Luke Carlin made his second consecutive start and he responded by smoking a double down the right field line for his first Major League hit. Carlin also gunned down a runner attempting to steal second.

Jody Gerut picked up his first hit since returning from Portland. Although it was his only hit of the series, Gerut made solid contact consistently and hit into some loud outs.

The newest Padre (and that's saying something lately), Bryan Corey, tossed a scoreless 9th inning. San Diego announcer Mark Grant noticed that the reliever pitches with his right (push off) foot directly on the rubber. It appears that Corey only uses the balls of his feet and toes to push off.

Kevin Kouzmanoff garnered FF praise on the first play of the game when he charged, fielded and threw out Rockies speedy leadoff man, Willie Tavares, on a bunt attempt.

Shake Up Continues

The Padres and Boston Red Sox completed a trade Sunday that will send 34 year old right handed reliever Bryan Corey to San Diego in exchange for cash or a player to be named. The addition of Corey, who has posted an ERA of 4.40 in 59.1 career innings with a strikeout to walk ratio of nearly 2 to 1, means that southpaw reliver Joe Thatcher will be demoted to Portland where he will look to regain the form that he showed last year after coming over in the Scott Linebrink trade from the Brewers. Sunday's trade marks the 3rd consecutive day that the Padres roster has been altered, FF likes to see the Padres brass trying to correct a poorly constructed team.