It's been a busy day today, haven't been able to put up anything new. I think Dex is at a conference and Jonny Dub is probably on vacation again.
A few thoughts from last night:
- I was amazed last night that the coaching staff had the testicals to send Branyan on a what was a certain suicide mission. Then we find out this morning that he misread the sign and that he wasn't sent at all. Sure everything worked out for the best and it was the key that won the game, but you can't help but think that the Padres can't make mental mistakes like that in tight games.
- Last night showed how lucky we are that we have Khalil at short stop. His defense makes every play look routine. When we see the ball handled by Geoff Blum it really shows how difficult the play actually was. This isn't even an insult to Geoff because those were hard hit balls and he came through when it mattered. It's just that I think we get used to our boy Kid Khalil vacuuming up everything that's hit in his direction.
- If we are going to win this series the Pads are going to have to keep as many runners off base as possible. They know our weakness is holding runners and they worked us last series in that respect. Chris Young and Josh Bard did an excellent job keeping Russell Martin from stealing, but they used everything in their bag of tricks. That one at bat may have been the most exciting of the game. Everybody knew Martin was running, it was just a matter if we could stop him or not.
- The Dodgers looked really good last night and it's easy to see why both teams have been winning as much as they have. They have an aggressive offense and good pitching to back it up. Padres and Dodgers are very evenly matched and this series promises to be exciting. Not to mention the entire NL West race, it looks like we could be within a few games until the end.
- How can you not like Marcus Giles? He's been outstanding for us this year. He carries himself with such confidence and you can tell he gives it 100% every time he takes the field. Just watching him hit, break up double plays and dive for line drives makes me giddy. He's one of those guys that would probably play for meal money.
Jon and I are going to try and make it out to tonight's game. I'm psyched. If you are looking for reading material in the mean time check out Winfield's Ghost's link diary Smells like Padres in here. He's doing a great job. If you want to share links, throw them in the comment section of his diary so everybody else can see them as well.