Gameday Thread- PIT-SD, 4-8-05

[Witlon]

-From sports.yahoo.com

Once again, runs aren't coming easy at Petco Park. The San Diego Padres don't mind, as long as they score more than the other team.
San Diego will try to build on a dramatic victory win in its home opener as it continues a four-game series with the winless Pittsburgh Pirates.

After scoring 24 runs in their first two games at hitter-friendly Coors Field in Colorado, the Padres returned to spacious Petco on Thursday.

``We all know that this is a big park. We can't just go out and bang it,'' Padres outfielder Ryan Klesko said. ``We've got to play defense, offense, get the runners over. We've got to play sound baseball all year in that park to win games.''

All the offense the Padres generated Thursday was a bases-loaded walk by Xavier Nady in the 12th inning, lifting San Diego to a 1-0 victory over Pittsburgh.

Starter Jake Peavy and four relievers combined on a 10-hitter for San Diego, which hopes for more solid pitching from right-hander Brian Lawrence.

Lawrence is coming off a career-best 15-win season in 2004. However, after pitching 200-plus innings for the third straight season, he did seem to wear down last year.

After posting a 10-6 record with a 3.89 ERA before the All-Star break, Lawrence went 5-8 with a 4.40 ERA down the stretch.

A strong offseason conditioning program has addressed the problem, according to Padres manager Bruce Bochy.

``When you're a low-round pick and your stuff doesn't always light up a radar gun (like Brian), you're going to have to put up better numbers than the guy with great stuff,'' said Bochy.

``Brian has overcome that. People now realize -- not just us, but people around baseball -- they realize that, hey, this guy knows how to pitch and is a winner.''

The Pirates, who have dropped three straight to start the year, will counter with Josh Fogg.

Fogg and Oliver Perez were the only Pirates starters with winning records last year, but Fogg had an alarmingly bad spring training, going 1-2 with a 7.38 ERA. He allowed eight homers in just 22 innings.

``He was good at times, bad at times (this spring),'' Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon said. ``He knows what he has to do and what has to be done to get ready.''

-Lineups to follow in about 2 minutes.

[Witlon]

Pittsburgh
M. Lawton rf
J. Wilson ss
T. Redman cf
J. Bay lf
C. Wilson 1b
R. Mackowiak 2b
B. Hill 3b
B. Santiago ca
J. Fogg p

San Diego
S. Burroughs 3b
M. Loretta 2b
B. Giles rf
P. Nevin 1b
R. Klesko lf
R. Hernandez ca
X. Nady cf
K. Greene ss
B. Lawrence p

- Josh Fogg is 0-1 in his career against the Padres in 1 start. (4 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, 9.00 ERA, 2.25 WHIP)

- Brian Lawrence is 3-2 in his career against the Pirates in 6 games(5 starts). (32.2 IP, 40 H, 18 ER, 6 H, 10 BB, 27 K, 4.96 ERA, 1.53 WHIP, .305 BAA)

[Kobe]

hopefully the Padres will change their fortunes offensively at Petco.

[Witlon]

Hopefully the Pirates will fire Lloyd McClendon before the game....and send Chris Duffy back to Triple A, and Rick White back to Cleveland!

[Friday133]

hopefully the pirates will score some runs!

fogg is on the mound? that is not a good sign at all.

[Witlon]

Fogg in the second half was very good. Hopefully...he can carry it over. Spring didn't look good though.

[Friday133]

wilton,

we need to win this game some way some how.

hopefully we come out of this slump.

[Witlon]

Top 1- Pirates batting facing Brian Lawrence
Matt Lawton grounded to second. (M. Loretta- P. Nevin)
Jack Wilson flies out to left. (R. Klesko)
Tike Redman flies out to deep right. (B. Giles)

Note: Wehner should stick to radio. Damn, Tike put a charge into it, not enough though.

[Friday133]

maybe wehner could grab a bat


this doesn't look good at all, 1,2,3 inning

[Witlon]

wilton,

we need to win this game some way some how.

hopefully we come out of this slump.

Got a good chance tomorrow if not tonight, love the Perez-Williams matchup. Hopefully tonight though, when I'm home to watch.

[Friday133]

i'm planning on going next saturday against the cubs, hopefully they have a few wins by then. if not maybe llyod will be gone

[Kobe]

grr i missed some of the game, went to get dinner :p

[Friday133]

what a grab by lawton!

very nice, but damn fogg is throwing up some very fat balls

[Kobe]

great, I can't watch the game on mlb.tv because its restricted in SD :\

[Friday133]

WTF was that bobby hill? how in life can you call yourself a major leaguer?