It's the battle of the Tims tonight. Hopefully we can continue our hot hitting and extend our streak to six in a row.
If you watched all of last night's game, you were happily rewarded with a victory. After giving up the early lead to the Giants in the 8th, the Padres bounced back to win in the 9th. Erik Hamren recorded his first major league win while Mat Latos got yet another no-decision for his quality start. And Giants fans all over the land rejoiced in the fact that Mat didn't get the win, despite their team's loss. Priorities, right?
Tonight, San Francisco will send Tim Lincecum to the mound to try to get them back in the W column. Lincecum has been on fire lately, posting a 1.48 ERA since July 4th. In his last two starts, he has combined for just one earned run on seven hits while striking out 17. However, the Giants have been struggling lately, winning only seven of their last 24 games and hitting .234 with an average of 2.6 runs per game in that span. They have the Major League's lowest team batting average with runners in scoring position (.216). They will try to build on last night's five runs and keep their bats alive tonight against Tim Stauffer.
Stauffer's last outing was a strong one, in which he pitched seven innings and allowed just one earned run to the Marlins. It was particularly great to see him pitch so well in that game considering his disastrous start on August 13th, when he gave up nine runs in just three innings to the Reds. Tim has been one of our most reliable pitchers all year and it was a relief to see him bounce back. Tonight he faces the Giants for the second time this season and will try to get his second victory after earning the win against them earlier this year. It'll be nice to get a Stawesome outing tonight, put up some runs against Lincecum, and continue our win streak tonight; but the best part would be shutting up obnoxious Giants fans who continue to throw last season's game 162 and their phallic hats in our faces.
GO FRIARS!! KEEP THE FAITH!!
One game at a time... We fight together. Let's make history. #Padres