Young delivers gem against D-Backs

看板Padres作者Raikknen (Kimi)時間19年前 (2006/08/30 19:58)推噓1(1推 0噓 0→)

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PHOENIX -- It was a night of recovery and discovery for the Padres. With Chris Young recovering his dominant form and Mike Piazza and Geoff Blum recovering their home run strokes, the Padres discovered how sweet it can be to win a game at Chase Field, where they'd lost 50 of their first 70 games. The Friars subdued the Diamondbacks, 8-3, in front of 21,511, and there were good vibes all around for a change. Young, who managed only one inning in his previous start before a muscle strain in the area of his right shoulder blade forced him out, had 11 strikeouts and no walks in seven innings, yielding two runs (one earned) on three hits. It was the kind of overpowering performance the 6-foot-10 strikeout artist from Dallas had dispensed in back-to-back starts in late May and early June, when he flirted with no-hitters against Colorado and Pittsburgh. "It's a tribute to our training staff," Young said. "After my last start, I didn't think it would be possible to pitch this game. In fact, I was worried I might have to go on the disabled list. It really shows you how good they are." If training staff members Todd Hutcheson, Paul Navarro and Kelly Calabrese were responsible for getting Young physically sound, his offense and defense also rallied to his support. The offense featured thunder from Piazza and Blum and aggressive activity from everybody else, from Russell Branyan's three hits and RBI to Todd Walker's two singles and sacrifice fly. All eight regulars kicked in, from Dave Roberts' 11th triple to Josh Barfield's two hits, RBI and incredibly artful slide on his 19th steal in 23 chances. The defense was top shelf, with Walker, giving Adrian Gonzalez a night off at first, making several spectacular plays from his chest and Blum, Barfield and Branyan all turning tough chances into outs. "The run support was awesome," Young said, "and the defense was great, too. Everything was in sync -- good rhythm, good tempo, and the rhomboid [strained muscle that forced him to skip his last start] felt good, too. It was a good night. "I'd like to make 32 of them great like that, but it's not possible." Young, the first Padres pitcher to reach double figures in wins at 10-5, had gone four starts without a victory, dating to July 29, when he beat Colorado with a five-inning effort. His seven innings represented the deepest Young had reached in a start since June 4, when he held the Pirates to two hits in eight innings of a shutout at Pittsburgh. "He was great," manager Bruce Bochy said. "Good stuff, good location. He had all his pitches working. I was contemplating taking him out after six [innings] ,being a little concerned with the situation with the [injury]. But he said he felt good, and so he went back out and pitched a strong seventh." Young's final pitch, No. 110 of the night, was his 75th strike, a premium fastball that he blew past Chad Tracy, who went down for the third time. "That was phenomenal," Blum said. "If it wasn't for a non-strike on an 0-2 pitch to Orlando Hudson that looked like a great pitch to me, he wouldn't have given up that home run, either." Hudson was leading off the fourth when Young snapped off an 0-2 curve that looked like a perfect strike not only to the shortstop, but also to the man who threw it. But umpire Ron Kulpa judged it low, and after working the count full, Hudson lifted a fastball into the seats in right for his 13th homer. The Padres had given Young a 2-0 lead on RBI singles by Barfield in the second and Branyan in the third. After Hudson's blast halved the deficit, Piazza struck in the fifth. Walker singled before Piazza unloaded his 19th homer of the season to right field against Enrique Gonzalez, ending a homer drought that had reached 36 at-bats. Piazza's previous blast had come on Aug. 9, during his two-homer night against the Mets' Pedro Martinez at Shea Stadium. With three singles, Branyan has five hits and four RBIs in the past two games. He made a sensational play at third base, throwing out Craig Counsell on a bunt leading off the sixth. Hudson followed with a single, taking third on Brian Giles' fielding error and scoring on Luis Gonzalez's groundout. The Padres busted it open against Juan Cruz in the seventh. Walker singled, Cameron walked with two outs and Blum unloaded a towering drive to right, his third homer of the season and first in 40 at-bats. Blum, who missed two games on the road trip with strained cartilage in his chest area, has 10 RBIs in his last eight games and is 12-for-27 (.444). "Placement is everything in this game," said Blum, famous for placing one in the right field seats in the 14th inning of Game 3 of the 2005 World Series for the champion Chicago White Sox. "I happened to find that corner, and it carried a little better than I expected." Roberts' 11th triple and Walker's sacrifice fly made it 8-2 in the eighth, and the Diamondbacks pushed across a run in the ninth against Alan Embree before the veteran lefty slammed the door shut. In the eighth, Cla Meredith sidearmed his scoreless streak to 21 2/3 innings, a record for a Padres rookie, needing 15 pitches -- four more than his average -- to get it done. But on this night, the story was Young. "I'll be honest, we were looking for him to be a little rusty," Bochy said. "He was as sharp as he's been all year. That was huge." ======================== source:http://0rz.net/d21OH 終於跟紅人並列外卡領先了!!!!!!!!!!!YA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 140.123.108.169 ※ 編輯: Raikknen 來自: 140.123.108.169 (08/30 20:13)