Baseball Lifer

The Padres utterly annihilate the Giants, 10-1, to finish the sweep. Plain and simply, it was an ugly game all the way around. Alex Wood got torched, and the Padres put up a five spot in the fourth inning. I don’t need to give you any more of a recap than that.

GAMEBALL:

Luis Gonzalez

In an otherwise miserable game, Luis Gonzalez gave us all the highlights we needed to feel less crappy after this one. In a 10-1 game, Gonzalez took the ball, and threw scoreless eighth and ninth innings with a whole assortment of 40-MPH eephus-balls. And he got a hit in the bottom of the eighth to go along with it. Well done, kid!

TIP OF THE CAP:

Manny Machado: The guy’s just a fucking beast. 4-for-4 with three doubles, and a triple. Just can’t stop him.

Jurickson Profar: Profar beat out an infield hit in the first; then, after it appeared that he had hurt his leg after just getting thrown out at first base in the third, he still held in there, and he threw in another hit as well.

Yadi: A week after Albert Pujols made his first major league pitching appearance, Yadier Molina followed suit in the Cardinals’ blowout of the Pirates in Pittsburgh. Like King Albert, Yadi got knocked around for four runs, but hey, A for effort!

Phillies: This weekend’s series was almost an exact mirror of last weekend’s. Last Sunday, the Phillies were an out away from a four-game sweep in LA, but Gavin Lux hit a walk-off double. Today, the Dodgers were an out away from a three-game sweep in Philly, and Phightn’s won it in the bottom of the 10th when Max Muncy botched a routine groundball at second. Nice job, Boys!

JOKER:

Alex Wood

Yikes. Wood just didn’t have it today, and his slider had very little break to it. When Machado hit his first double in the first inning, I think we all knew how this one was going to turn out.

SMACK OF THE STICK:

Brandon Crawford: Another 0-for-4 from Craw, and on top of that, he nearly had a nasty collision with Darin out in left on Eric Hosmer’s flyout in the top of the first on a ball that he should’ve let Ruf have from the getgo. Who knows, maybe he’ll hit better next season, since it will be another contract year for him.

John Brebbia & Zack Littell: They didn’t do much better than Wood.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

We’ve lost four in a row, and now the Mets come in for three. Now I’m worried.

Stephen