Resilience
The Padres wrapped up a 4 game series vs. the Dodgers in LA on Thursday, hoping to snap their brief 2 game losing streak. They did just that, shutting out the Dodgers 5-0 to take a 2 game lead over the Giants, who lost to the Braves, in the NL West.
A key part to this Padres ballclub is resilience. They do not get upset if they lose a couple games in a row. These last 3 games were a prime example of it. After being on the wrong end of masterful pitching performances by Ted Lilly and Vicente Padilla, in which the Padres only scored 1 run in 18 innings. The Padres had to face the Dodgers right-hander Chad Billingsley on Thursday. They needed a win. They needed runs. And in the 4th, they finally broke through, scoring 3 runs highlighted by RBI singles by Yorvit Torrealba and Chase Headley. The pitching did the rest. Kevin Correia, Joe Thatcher, Esterno Frieri, Luke Gregerson, and Heath Bell pitched scoreless baseball to give the Padres a 5-0 win. The Padres scored their last 2 runs on possibly the wackiest inside the park home run ever.
Tony Gwynn Jr led off the 9th with a walk. In stepped Chris Denorfia. He took 3 pitches, 2 balls and 1 strike was the count. On the 2-1 pitch, Tony Gwynn Jr was attempting a steal. Chris Denorfia swung away and chopped a ball over Casey Blake at 3rd base. The was going down the line, and Scott Podsednik, the Dodgers left fielder, misplayed the ball, as it went all the way to the wall. Denorfia, hustling, made it all away around the bases for a ground ball chopper inside the park home run. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, something you’ve never seen happens. I love that about baseball.
Getting back to the resilience factor, let me give you some stats. Following a shutout loss, the Padres are 6-0. Following 2 straight losses, the Padres are 12-1. They never give up, and I love that about this team. That is a big part of why they are in first place, 2 games over the Giants, in the NL West.
The Padres head to Arizona where they take on the Diamondbacks for 3 games starting today. First pitch today is 6:40 PM PT, Jon Garland pitches for the Padres vs. Daniel Hudson of the DBacks.
GO PADRES!!!!!!
The Friar Faithful 
Resilience, and a short memory, are HUGE qualities for a championship-caliber team. After a loss, the best thing to do is just move on and play better the next day. It’s working for your Padres 🙂
-Virginia
http://southernbelle.mlblogs.com
Starting to look like the two “San”-cities will be fighting it outall the way until October. But it is also great to see another setof teams from that N L WEst division taking the lead and trying to show the diversity and the strength of that division.
The race might end up coming down to who wins the overall seasonal series between the two titans. I got my money right now solidly on the Friars.
Mostly becuase Ihave seen them play in InterLeague against my Rays this season, but mostly becuase I know that offense can be a atom bomb when they are focused.
Rays Renegade
http://raysrenegade.mlblogs.com
Don’t think the Dodgers did enough to change their fortunes at the deadline. The Jints can really pitch though. But you guys are playing some really good gritty baseball. The dog days of summer will give a lot of shape to that race.
mike
http://thebrooklyntrolleyblogger.mlblogs.com/
Hard to believe your boys have the best NL record. Impressive. I knew they’d do it (yeah, right). I knew they’d be better this year, but nobody thought they’d be THIS good! I hope you are enjoying the ride!
http://raysfanboy.mlblogs.com
Yo! watcha doin? Happy Sunday.
mike