Loose ends

That Padres game from last night? It finally ended.

Final Score: Diamondbacks 8, Padres 3
WP: Davis (6-10, 4.19 ERA)
LP: Maddux (7-7, 4.35 ERA)

Looked like it was going to get interesting in the 7th inning. Jose Cruz made a pinch-hitting appearance for Brocail and hit a solo homerun to make the score 4-3 Diamondbacks. But the Diamondbacks answered in the bottom of the inning with three runs and tacked on an extra in the bottom of the 8th to put the game out of reach.

It's an interesting time for Padres reliever Cla Meredith. He was one of the real success stories of the 2006 NL West winning Padres, but the league seems to have caught up with him this season. His ERA is still a decent 3.53, but he hasn't been nearly as bullet-proof as he was last season. It should be interesting to see if he's able to adjust to the changes.

But enough about Friday night's action. It's Saturday, which means afternoon baseball! Unless you're a fan of any of the teams covered in this blog. In which case, sorry. You get Saturday night baseball. Yay.

Once again coming from Tropicana Field, the third game of this four-game series between the Yankees and Devil Rays.

Chien-Ming Wang, RHP (9-4, 3.36 ERA) vs. Andy Sonnanstine, RHP (1-3, 5.36 ERA)

Wang, ugly nail issue and all, will be going for his tenth victory of the season. I have nothing much to say about Sonnanstine. He's never made a career start against the Yankees, so it's the first look I'm going to have at him. One thing he has going for him is the struggle this Yankee team seems to have against pitchers they're unfamiliar with the first time around.

Other Saturday match-ups:

The always exciting RHP Daniel Cabrera (6-10, 5.04 ERA) and the Orioles face Javier Vazquez and the White Sox at 7:05pm in Baltimore. I never find myself missing Sam Perlozzo as manager of the O's more than when Cabrera pitches. The height difference between those two when Perlozzo would go to take the ball from him alone made for entertaining television.

LHP Matt Chico (4-5, 4.39 ERA) and the Nationals try to make it two in a row at Dolphin Stadium as they go against the most consistent starter for the Marlins this season, Sergio Mitre. Chico is coming off a strong outing last week against the Cubs, pitching seven shutout innings. Given the track record of Chico this season, one would expect the good outing to be followed by a not-so-good one. But one thing Nats fans should love about the kid is his composure, whether he's fantastic or terrible. Acta stated at the beginning of the season that he wanted to have a rookie in his starting rotation who would have skin thick enough to handle the ups and downs of learning on the major league roster, and he certainly got that with Chico. I wonder if he expected Chico to be his most durable starter as well.

LHP Tom Glavine (7-6, 4.36 ERA) and the Mets face Matt Belisle and the Reds in Shea at 7:30. Man, is Glavine still stalled on 298 wins? I know he'll make 300 wins by the end of the season, but it feels like it's taking a lifetime?

Finally, RHP Chris Young (8-3, 2.00 ERA) is coming off of his first All-Star appearance, and a five-game suspension brilliantly served during the All-Star Break, to face former Nat Livan Hernandez and the Diamondbacks. His last regular season outing was seven scoreless innings against the Marlins. Young recorded a no-decision for his efforts. Welcome to the life of a Padres pitcher.

~~~

Down on the farm: S/WB topped the Louisville Bats 5-2 in ten innings. Justin Christian singled off of Calvin Medlock in the top of the 10th, scoring Jamal Strong from second. After a double steal (Brett Gardner to third, Christian to second) and a Kevin Reese strikeout, Shelley Duncan doubled in both runners to give Scranton a 3-run inning. Charlie Manning (2-1, 3.92 ERA) picked up the win, and Jim Brower pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the 10th for his 16th save.

Steven White had a strong outing - 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 6 Ks. For those interested, injury-troubled former National Gary Majewski pitched 1.1 innings for the Bats, recording one hit and one strikeout with no walks and no earned runs. He has an ERA of 4.61 with Louisville.