Padres Kick Off Season 2-0

San Diego Padres-2, Houston Astros-1

Nice nail-biter, Pads.  Anyone else get the feeling this won’t be the last one run contest we see the Friars in this season?  I thought as much.  Well, there wasn’t much offense but we’re used to that down here.  It was a win though so we’ll take it. 

Chris Young was awfully solid on the mound, showing good poise in getting out of a couple of tough innings.  Scott Hairston was responsible for the Padres’ only runs in the game with a two-run shot to left field in the fourth.

From there, the bullpen did just enough to make the lead stand, allowing only one run off a bases-loaded walk from Joe Thatcher (Although the runners were Chris Young’s responsbility so he was tagged with the run).  The defense was stellar on both sides which helped limit the offense but the Padres got all they needed with Hairston’s blast.

Trevor Hoffman earned his first save of the season and looked awfully good doing it.  It should have been a 1-2-3 inning but Hunter Pence beat out Trevor to first base by thismuch on a bloop to Adrian Gonzalez.  No problem, Hoffman turned around and struck out Lance Berkman to sew it up.  Of course, I’m sure I’m not the only one wondering if he can hold up all season long, I’m certainly rooting for him.  Still, you have to give the guy credit, he dominated tonight and when Hoffman is on it’s a beautiful thing to watch.

All in all, the Padres have looked pretty good the past two nights.  I fully expect them to take two out of three against Houston, if not a full sweep…but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, eh?  So grab a nail file and a barf bag, the Padres are sure to test our intestinal fortitude again this season.  It’s gonna be fun…

Tomorrow night we’ll see the Professor, Greg Maddux, conduct some pitching experiments against Wandy Rodriguez and the Astros.  Game time is…you guessed it…7:05 pm at Petco.  Until that time…

-Collin Elliott