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“Baseball Moments from Petco Park Pressbox”

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PADRES….Quite a two week run. They go (7-6) and don’t wilt at all. Think of the Padres of the past. If they were lining up against Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Clayton Kershaw, Kenta Maeda, Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndegaard, I guarantee they would not have won 7-games in that span. Impressive pitching duels and some big hits against really great pitching.

HOME RUN HAVEN….Balls rocketing out of Petco Park. The Padres hitters have made their stadium, a home run yard. What Franmil Reyes and Hunter Renfroe have done on this homestead has been special. Neither hitting for average, but hitting important home runs.

HOT HOSMER…..Chasing away all the bad times from a year ago, Hosmer is on his best tear since coming from Kansas City, a (.391) splurge over the last ten games or so. Add to that, marvelous defensive plays. Now he needs to keep it up.

THE CATCHERS….You have seen the defensive prowess of Austin Hedges, you have seen improvement in Francisco Mejia with their gloves. The bats, not so, yet. One hitting (.171) the other (.174). Guess the Padres can live with that if the rest of the lineup in swinging.

MANNY MANS CENTER….Quite a couple of innings for Manny Margot, going over the fence to take away a home run in one inning, and going to the fence to deflect one from going over, turning it into a double. Looks as if Margot will platoon with Will Myers in center.

KIRBY COLLAPSE….Always worried about overuse, Kirby Yates has hit a rock patch. Two home runs allowed over the weekend, then another shakey appearance out of the pen, in finally getting a save on Wednesday. Have to wonder if fatigue is setting in?

MATT THE MAN….Matt Strahm has brought his full arsenal of four pitches to the starting rotation, that plus a fierce fire on the mound. A former starter with the Royals, then moved to the bullpen while rehabbing from knee surgery, he looks like another steal in another AJ Prefer trade.

COWBOY WAITING….The national media has yet to catch up to what Chris Paddock has done in his seven starts, but the wins, the strikeouts, the ERA, matches what Doc Gooden did in his (7-1) start with the New York Mets. He was in the media market in the world, so thus much more coverage-exposure. Paddock is not getting exposure buried here in the southwest corner of the nation. He keeps this up, as May goes to June, he will be not only in the running for an All Star berth, but Rookie of the Year.

EL NINO RETURNS….Fernando Tatis should be back in the lineup on Friday against Colorado. A quick return from what was a scary hamstring injury. We’ll see if they can protect him from himself, or he needs his legs to make all the plays, steal all the bases, he did at the start of the season.

WHO IS THIS GUY GERARDO….Quite an outing from Gerardo Reyes, just called up from El Paso. Man at second and third, one out, in a tie game with the Mets, Reyes comes in throwing gas. 6-pitches, 6-strikes, 2-striekouts. The pitchers ranged from 97-to-99 in that impressive outing.

CALVIN BACK TO THE CHIHUAHUAS….Calvin Quantrill goes back to El Pso. He had some good innings, some rocky innings. They hit a lot of rocket shots against him in his two major league starts. Most surprising in all, he is not overpowering at this point in his young career. The positive, the state isn’t too big, and for the rocky innings, he bounced back. Not sure he ranks up there with Paddock, Lauer, Paddock, in their debuts. But then again, everyone needs a quality 4th or 5th starter in the rotation. Quantrill might be that.

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