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Hacksaw’s Thursday Podcast…1pm
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“PADRES PLAYOFF INSURANCE”
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That’s why you buy insurance, for your home, your car, your baseball roster.

And now the Padres will need to have those insurance policies pay off starting this weekend when they face the Dodgers.

The insurance comes in the form of starting pitching and the depth in the bullpen.

The excitement of the Wildcard series with the Braves lost some of its energy when Joe Musgrove had to come off the mound, with an elbow twinge.

Java Joe, No-No Joe, has been dazzling since coming off the disabled list after the extended treatment for a bone spur in the elbow.  And then this.

Breaking off curve balls, throwing with 90s velocity, then a loss of velocity, and then he was seen shaking his elbow, and then he was gone.  The guy who had a (2.15-ERA) since coming off the DL, could be done for the postseason.

Home town hero-made good, no hitter, fiery leader, now hurt.  A glum looking expression walking to the dugout, and suddenly the fans in the stands sensed this was not good.

The insurance policy we have is the Japanese legend, Yu Darvish, no stranger to pressure situations, the guy who has 7-different pitches from all types of angles, will move into the rotation to replace Musgrove.

And just like the 7-deep bullpen the Friars have, he is big time trustworthy.

The Padres flirted with danger all night, even with a (5-1) lead as Atlanta found a way to overcome the loss of their own starter Max Fried, who labored after getting hit with a linedrive in the hip.  He exited after 2-innings.

This coming on top of the loss of ace Chris Sale with the back spasms, cancelled out of his opening day start against the Padres, after his (17-3) season.

The Friars got big hits early, the Kyle Higashioka home run, and the 2-run scoring hits from Jackson Merrill and Manny Machado.

Atlanta would not cave despite all their adversity, getting home runs from Jorge Soler and Michael Harris.

But the Braves, who led baseball in strikeouts this year, kept leaving guys on base in game two, much like they did in the first outing.  23-strikeouts in two nights with a bunch of guys on base.  End of hope.

Some other time, maybe Atlanta is still playing.

But the Padres had the full insurance policy, and it has paid off during the season and especially in this series.

The win is fun, the Dodgers next, but an ache in your baseball heart with what has befallen Joe Musgrove.

Thank goodness for insurance policies.

And as the fans exited the noise of Petco Park..what stood out at the end was the fans screaming ‘BEAT-LA..BEAT-LA”

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