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“PADRES–WIN OR GO HOME”
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The Padres are where they need to be…still playing in post season games as the calendar has flipped into October.
And now they face the Cubs in a do-or-die game on Thursday at Wrigley Field.
A matchup of two fatigued teams.
Both teams have struggled to hit the ball.
Both teams have used up their bullpens.
Both teams have had to go pull their starters out of the game.
Yu Darvish, hardly the ace he used to be, will start in the win or go home game. He will be backed up by the rested, but rusty, Michael King and the young Randy Vasquez. It looks like the Friars have enough bullets in the gun from among those starters, to get this done.
Jameson Taillon, pitching his way back from the injured list, has to start, and may be backed by young starter Ben Brown. But after that, there is no idea where innings will come from for Chicago.
Manager Craig Counsell is being second guessed for his handling of Shoto Imanaga, who did not start on Wednesday, came out of the bullpen, and gave up another home run at Wrigley, where he has faded this second half of the season. You change a pitcher’s routine-maybe it does not work out.
Mike Shildt gambled, yanking Dylan Cease early and asking his bullpen to get him some 15-outs. They did, the best outing Adrian Morejon has ever had, the dominant 103-104 mph pitches from strikeout artist Mason Miller, and then the closing work of Robert Suarez. On Thursday the gamble paid off, but the bulk of the bullpen has been used up, because they also pitched with the early exit of Nick Pivetta in the first game.
Manny Machado, with a history of post season failure, gave the Padres the breathing room they needed with a 2R-HR swing in the win.
Fernando Tatis made a brilliant 8th inning catch to snuff out a rally. The infield turned a 9th inning double play to end the game, and force a 3rd and final game.
Neither team has hit well in this playoff series. The wind blowing in has been a difference maker.
And now someone is 9-innings away from moving on to a tough Milwaukee series by the weekend.
Can Yu find enough vintage Darvish stuff to choke off the batting order?
If the Friars go to the bullpen, can King be what he was before all the issues?
What kind of innings do you get from the young thrower Vasquez?
Which batting order breaks out of the funk?
Is there a hero out there from the slumping Kyle Tucker or Peter Crow-Armstrong?
And will anyone have any gas left in the tank to go to play the 97-win Brewers in the next round?
Playoff baseball…alot of tension-alot of edge of the seat action…isn’t it?
Is it game-time yet?
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