D-Backs blow 4-0 lead, get swept in San Diego
Published by Vince Marotta August 27th, 2008 on AZ Sports Hub - Arizona's Destination for Sports - Blogs - Podcasts - Forums
The Skinny: The theme is becoming all to familiar. The Diamondbacks’ offense struggles, and the bullpen blows a lead. Well, guess what happened in San Diego on Wednesday? Yep, Randy Johnson pitched 7 strong innings, only to see Chad Qualls allow two runs in the 8th inning, and the Diamondbacks lost again to the San Diego Padres, 5-4. The Diamondbacks scored all of their runs in the 6th inning. Mark Reynolds’ sacrifice fly scored Chad Tracy to make the score 1-0. Later, a Miguel Montero triple, the first of his career, scored Adam Dunn. Montero would score on a double by Chris Young, and Young came across the plate when he was knocked in by a single from Johnson. The Padres answered with 3 runs in the 7th, highlighted by a 2-run homer by catcher Nick Hundley. The Padres tied it in the 8th when Chase Headley drove in Brian Giles, and took the lead when Jody Gerut’s single scored Headley. Trevor Hoffman came in to work the 9th, and made quick work of Augie Ojeda, Tony Clark and Stephen Drew, striking them out the side on 13 pitches for his 27th save of the season.
Diamondbacks Player of the Game: Johnson. You have to feel bad for the guy. He’s chasing a career milestone, all while helping his team try to win a division crown, and he’s getting no help. Johnson went 7 innings, allowing 5 hits and 3 runs while striking out 9. He also went 2 for 3 at the dish with an rbi.
But there’s 9 innings in a game, right?: The Diamondbacks scored all of their runs and had 5 of their 9 hits in the 6th inning.
Bullpen woes continue: In their last 5 losses, the Diamondbacks’ bullpen has worked 10 innings, giving up 18 hits, and 11 runs, for a combined ERA of 9.99.
Tough series for Drew: Stephen Drew had a forgettable series in San Diego, going 0 for 11 with 4 strikeouts while hitting in the leadoff spot.
Can the Diamondbacks get him?: On the other hand, Padres’ outfielder Jody Gerut will be dancing in the nightmares of the D-Backs’ pitching staff for quite some time. In the series, Gerut went 5 for 14 with a walk-off home run, and a game-winning rbi. For the season, Gerut lit up Arizona pitching, going 16 for 37 (.432) with 3 home runs and 8 runs batted in.
Final thoughts: If somebody would have approached me on Monday and told me that the Diamondbacks would get swept by a team who had lost their last 7 games while Dan Haren, Brandon Webb and Randy Johnson were pitching, I would have had them committed. That’s exactly what happened, and the Diamondbacks only lead the Dodgers by 2 1/2 games and the Rockies by 5 1/2 games heading into Thursday night’s action.
Here’s what others are saying about the Padres unlikely sweep of the Diamondbacks…
The Diamondbacks get a day to recover from their short, yet disastrous road trip to San Diego, before they host the second place Los Angeles Dodgers, who are currently in Washington taking on the Nationals. Catch a full preview here Friday morning on AZSportshub.com.