Welcome to May, everyone! We didn't exactly end April on a good note, but it is time now to look forward to beards and hopefully some better-played baseball, as well as the approaching return of some of our injured players (namely Carlos Quentin and Tim Stauffer).
Edinson Volquez takes the mound today, coming off his best start of the season and looking for his first win. He allowed just one run on three hits and one walk, and struck out seven, in seven innings of work. He will try to ride that momentum into tonight's game to help lift the Padres to a win. However, he will have to find a way to contain Ryan Braun, who not only went 4-for-4 4-for-5 with three homers and a triple last night, but is hitting 7-for-19 all-time against Volquez. Furthermore, Aramis Ramirez is 5-for-16 and Rickie Weeks is 6-for-10 in their careers against him.
The Padres offense was there last night, but they had a lot of trouble getting guys home. They managed to bring home three runs, but could have done a lot more damage considering their nine hits and five walks. Our offense needs to take better advantage of Milwaukee's rotation, which has the worst ERA in the NL. Yonder Alonso has had the hot bat lately, so hopefully he will keep riding that and lead the rest of the lineup to a more successful showing than last night's. Tonight they will face Shaun Marcum. Despite throwing three quality starts this season, Milwaukee is just 1-3 when he pitches.
#Padres lineup:Venable 9, Denorfia 7, Headley 5, Hundley 2, Alonso 3, Hudson 4, Maybin 8, Bartlett 6, Volquez 1.
— Andy Masur (@PadsCast) May 1, 2012
Anyone going to the game tonight? Make sure to take a look at May's Happiness Resolution and put it into effect. Also, I hope you all have checked out Pick 6 and made your picks, and I hope there are no Brewers in your 6's.
GO FRIARS!! KEEP THE FAITH!!
P.S. I'm implementing a game thread superstition. If 20 different Gaslamp Ballers comment before first pitch, Padres will win!