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Miami evened up the series yesterday in their 4-2 win, so today we've got a rubber match at Marlins Park. Clayton Richard, one of two staples of our crumbling rotation this season, will take the mound for our Friars and try to restore the winning mentality to our team by leading them to a victory in the series finale. He hasn't had the best success as of late, going 1-3 in his last four starts, and his downfall lately seems to be the long ball. He's given up six homers over that four-game span. His last outing was one of the worst of his season. He scattered nine hits on his way to giving up seven runs, including four runs in the 1st inning. He gave up a couple of very crucial walks as well, and struggled with his command all game. Hopefully he can bounce back from that rough outing and get back in a groove today.
Josh Johnson will do his best to make it hard on Richard, though. This will be his 21st start for Miami, and possibly his last start. But he'll have to push all trade talk out of his mind and focus if he wants to be successful against this Padres team. For the most part, our offense has gotten much better at taking advantage of gifts and mistakes from the opposing team. However Johnson has a lot to be confident about after his last start. When the Braves came to Miami last Monday, Johnson held them to just one hit in six innings while striking out nine batters to tie his season high. He'll be looking to spoil our Padres' first visit to Marlins Park by taking the series in what could possibly be his Marlins swan song.
Everyone in Breakfasttown must make sure to eat a gooood breakfast while we watch out boys fight for this victory. Gotta win today and prevent losing back-to-back series. We're just 13 games back in the division now and the Giants and Dodgers will battle it out today with sole possession of the NL West at stake for San Francisco. Our Padres are like the little engine that could, chugging their way uphill on the (rail)road to October. MWG!
GO FRIARS!! KEEP THE FAITH!!