Kouz Pushes Pads Off Lidge

In an exciting game for both sides, the Padres pounded Phillie closer Brad Lidge in the 9th inning to take the lead for good. Jody Gerut led off the inning, which the club entered down 4-5, with a laser double (helped by former Friar Shane Victorino's moderate misplay of the ball). Some of the better situational hitting FF can remember from David Eckstein and Brian Giles plated Gerut, pulling the Padres even while simultaneously handing Lidge his first blown save a Phillie (he had amassed a 53 game streak). Adrian Gonzalez and Chase Headley followed with some patiently aggressive hitting - patient in these cases - with a pair of walks with 2 down. This brought up Kevin Kouzmanoff, who launched a bomb into left center to put the Padres up by a trio. Heath Bell then entered the game, retiring the side in order to pick up his 7th save of the post-Hoffman era (out of nine Friar wins to date).

Ring a Bell
FF was not pleased to see Bell warm up and enter the game. He threw 47 pitches in the last two days and has appeared in 7 or the Friars 12 games overall. We love having a guy that wants the ball, but we'd love to see Bud Black play things safe with Bell, especially given the 3 run lead in the game. Counting tonight's game, Bell has now thrown 67 pitches over three outings across three days. Even a burly dude that is "Wii Fit" needs a break every now and then.

Down with OCD
While we at FF generally like Black, we've long been concerned about his bullpen management, which seems to rely on a few relievers ad nauseam. See "Everyday Cla" and "The Joe Thatcher Story". We here a new installment featuring Luke Gregerson is in the works.

Will The Real Scott Hairston Please Standup?

The Scott Hairston dichotomy is one of our real frustrations. He has games where he is nothing short of a world-beater, like Friday night's performance where he robbed a go-ahead homer in the top half of the 8th inning, then hits a 3 run bomb of his own to put the club up for good. Then he has other nights where he runs the bases poorly and looks lost at the plate. We'd love to see Hairston harness his inner Steve Finley, but we've jumped on the Scotty H bandwagon too many times to do it again without prolonged success (i.e., more than a consecutive week of solid play). Imagine if one could combine the omnipresent heady play of David Eckstein with the raw potential of Hairston...