Clip And Save

During last night's radio broadcast, at least the 2 innings I was able to listen to, Ted Leitner told a story about the early 1980s Padres teams and the standings.  He remembered a season where the Padres were in first place in early May, an unusual event for the franchise that had only been in first if they won on Opening Day. The SD U-T printed the NL West standings inside a dashed box with the annotation "CLIP AND SAVE".

FWIW, I looked at Padre season results from 1976-1986, and I think he was referring to 27 April 1982.  That year the Padres opened 12-4 and were tied for first.  They lost the next night and never got back atop the division.  I assumed that after 1984 being in first place wouldn't have been that novel a thing.

Well, for a franchise that's lost 90+ games 85+* games the last two seasons, it's refreshing to be on top of the division, even if it's only after 14 games.  After winning last night 1-0, that's exactly where the Padres find themselves. (*ed note:  saw a comment at Gaslamp Ball by Zach regarding this post and the 09 Padres.  Zach's right - they lost 87 last year.  My bad.)

I've been thinking about doing game summaries here, similar to what USS Mariner does, but Geoff over at Ducksnorts already does a real good job of it, and he has the added benefit of attending the games.  I, on the other hand, chase small children around the house at night when I'm not standing in the drizzle on a softball diamond.

It didn't rain hard enough to stop the game, but it did rain enough to be annoying.  AND we had a double header last night.  AND I pitched.  Suffice it to say, from the neck down I looked like a drowned rat. It was a good night to wear multiple layers of clothing.

However I will make a couple of points:

1.  One hit?  That's all we got?   During the post game on XX 1090, this little factoid came up:  the Padres had only won one other time when they got a single hit. (July 19, 1975).  They scored their runs on two bases-loaded walks in the sixth inning.  Last night was the first game in franchise history won 1-0 on only one hit.  It's not just a rare event for the Padres, it's a rare event in baseball.  Since 1974 there's been only 9 other games decided 1-0 with the winner having a single hit.  In 7 of those 9 games the single hit was a solo HR.  The other two:

• 7 Sept 86:  Giants beat Montreal on a hit by pitch, stolen base, wild pitch, and double (the lone hit).  Run scored in the top of the first.
• 27 April 02:  Seattle beats the Yankees on a walk, wild pitch, and single (the lone hit).

2.  That means last night was the first third first game in 35 years where the lone hit didn't drive in the run. Pretty cool. (I was right the first time.)

3.  How many times can you say the key play of the game involved the first baseman falling into the camera well?  That's just ridiculous.  Consider that if Aubrey Huff could have somehow kept his balance Headley wouldn't have been able to advance.  They might still be playing.

4.  Jonathan Sanchez is a beast.  You probably already knew that, seeing as he no-hit the Padres last year. He has also posted back-to-back 10 strikeout games.  First time in his career he's done that.  Thirty-four pitchers have also done this (since 2006).  Only 7 of them had a third game of 10+ strikeouts, and it's a who's who of pitching studs the last 5 years (Peavy, Sabathia, Lester, Johan Santana, Verlander, Harden, Lackey).

Padres go for the sweep this afternoon.  Clip and Save.