Something strange going on

Either my last post regarding my visit to Petco was really well read, or Blogger is lying about how many read.  If that many of you really did read, thank you.  I had more page views on that than any other post, by far. UPDATE: After Posting this, I saw that Gaslampball promoted me...twice. Once in a fanshot, the other in their amazing as always stories in regards to their experiences from Fridays game which I met them. Dex and Jbox are seriously awesome. I also want to thank Friarhood for including me in their daily roundup, and GhostofRAK, RJsFro, and several others whom I know have retweeted my posts.  You guys seriously rock for that. I never imagined I would be having so many people read or pass along to read my #wruting.  

The other strange thing is, hey, the Padres won!!! They didn't need a come back to do so, and the bullpen did its job well.  Brad Brach's stuff was filthy. His strikeout in the bottom of the sixth was one of the best looking pitches I've seen and it was good to see him throwing strikes in the seventh-- and getting to face multiple batters.

There was some talk tonight about Volquez hitting a wall and staying one batter to long.  I agree, he was in perhaps a tad to long, but honestly, I can't say I would have played it differently.  He struggled a bit in the third inning but then mowed through the Rockies lineup in the 4th and 5th innings.  In the 6th he seemed to hit that wall again. Here's where many would take him out, but when I asked the question on twitter "Who would you trust to replace him" I didn't get a consensus answer other than "Good Point"  It's not that the bullpen has been bad. In fact, they have been , on the whole, pretty good with the 4th best ERA, and second in Batting average against.   Its just that none of them have been guaranteed lock down. Given the number of innings and the lack of health on the staff, I was hoping, as I'm sure Black was, that Volquez could finish the inning and not have to use the pen yet.  But alas, before Brach's appearance, Joe Thatcher came in as the LOOGY and got Helton out.

Ah, the role of the LOOGY. Pitch to one guy and call it a day.  I know it exists in baseball, but sometimes I wish it didn't.  It would be nice to not burn guys like that, especially given our lack of depth in the pen, and the inordinate number of innings (4th most in the NL) the Padres have thrown, it would be a good idea not to waste an arm on one pitch.  But, I don't get paid the modest salary to manage a team.  Nor have I spent my entire life in baseball, so I might be missing something completely.

I guess I shouldn't complain. The Padres won, and on Jeremy Nash's birthday.  Happy Birthday Jeremy!