Cubs Get Series Win Revenge, Put Padres in Salvage Mode: Pads vs. Cubs 8/24
By Friar Wire
By Bob Scanlan
Back in May, the struggling Padres did the unthinkable; worse than pulling on Superman’s cape, taking the mask off the Lone Ranger, or telling the emperor he was wearing no clothes. They had the audacity to hand the ordained-for-greatness Cubs their first series loss of the season, taking two out of three in their early season matchup. It was a much needed bright spot for the Friars at the time, and a glass of cold water in the face of a rolling Cubs club. It was an affront the North Siders apparently would not forget, as they took last night’s game 5–3 to guarantee another Padres series ambush would not happen. Jake Arrieta was dominant, holding the Friar offense to just two hits through eight scoreless innings. A 9th inning rally forged by the Pads plated three late runs, but was snuffed out when Joe Maddon called upon his recently acquired new toy, closer Aroldis Chapman.
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The Fathers now have their backs to the wall to avoid the sweep. A few things they can do to help improve their chances include…
- Take the walk if that’s what he’s willing to give you — After being shut down by Jon Lester and
- Arrieta in the first two games, the Padres task to score runs gets no easier today against Kyle Hendricks. He’s actually been even more consistent than his rotation mates, with a league leading 2.16 ERA. One of the things he does so well is he does not give in and throw cookies down the middle when he falls behind in the count. He has enough confidence in himself and his stuff to know that he doesn’t have to. He’ll continue to make tough pitches hoping to get batters to get overaggressive when they find themselves in the king position, and if they don’t chase and he walks the guy, then so be it. The Padres hitters need understand that and take the walk if that’s what he’s willing to hand out. Just because you are in a hitters count against this guy does not mean he is going to throw you a more hittable pitch to get back into the count. Don’t get suckered into chasing his pitch. Stay disciplined and if you do get a rare mistake do jump on it, but against this tough right hander, a walk can be as good as a hit.
- Use smart lineup management and waste no outs- Even with Anthony Rizzo getting the day off, Padres
- starter Paul Clemens will be facing a tough lineup today. The key for him will be to be smart in who he goes after, and make sure he locks down the easier outs that do exist. Leadoff man Dexter Fowler is 0–7 so far in this series, and needs to be kept off the bases with the hot swinging Kris Bryant right behind him. Ben Zobrist has 4 hits in the series, but right behind him is Jorge Soler who’s been struggling. Go after Jason Heyward instead of giving in to Addison Russell, who’s on a 7-game hit streak. Just be smart, and then bear down and get the guy out that you need to in order to avoid having to challenge the big guns with guys on base.
- Relax and play baseball like you’re facing…well, the Diamondbacks — We discussed it in yesterday’s
- Game Preview, but it still bears reiterating today. Some costly, trying-to-do-too much type mistakes were made by the Padres again yesterday that cost them early scoring opportunities that they never recovered from. We all get that you want to up your game when facing the best, but often times that translates into trying to do too much and actually making it easier for your opponent. Remember how relaxed the Friars played in taking three of four from Arizona last series? Same approach. Yes the adrenaline is there, but this is where the young players need to learn how to control it and focus it into being even better at anticipating and executing the fundamentals, not trying to create something spectacular that you think you need to do, but really isn’t there.
