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The Tucson Padres completed a season-opening series split with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox yesterday afternoon, losing the final game by a stunning 12 to 2. As GM Mike Feder said, it’s only one game of 144… Here’s a quick recap of the final three games in the series.
April 8th – After an opening game featuring hits galore, game two featured a more measured contest between the Padres and the Sox. Tucson amassed four hits against eight allowed to the Sox. Neither team scored until the fourth inning when COS got one against Tucson starter, Will Inman. It was the only run he allowed in five innings of work. He struck out four – no walks. Well done! Tucson hitters put up two runs in the top of the fifth inning, but the Sky Sox put up two in both the seventh and eighth innings. Our Padres got one more in the top of the eighth, but that was all they could manage. No home runs for either team (someone must’ve turned on the humidor! Just a CO joke, folks, the Springs doesn’t have a humidor like their Parent Unit, the Rockies). Final score: Tucson 3; Colorado Springs 5.
April 9th – Tucson pretty much owned this game from start to finish, though the Sox were never completely out of it. Our Padres scored five runs against Sky Sox starting pitcher, Clay Mortensen, in the first inning and kept pounding him until he’d given up nine earned runs and was chased after three innings. Those were the only runs Sox pitching allowed – but that sufficed! T-Pad starter, Josh Geer, took the win with five innings of work. His line: eight hits, two earned runs, one walk and four Ks. Tucson 1B, Anthony Rizzo, had his first homer of the season – the only HR in the game. Final score: Tucson 9, Colorado Springs 7.
April 10th – The Tucson Padres’ bats quieted some in the final game of the series. Tucson had nine hits; Rizzo got three of those himself. We left nine men stranded on base and only scored two runs. Meanwhile, the Sky Sox beat up on our starting pitcher, Simon Castro, who pitched four innings and gave up nine of the Sox’s 12 runs. He took a loss in his first effort of the 2011 campaign. More problematic (from my perspective): Tucson committed two errors. We’ve had errors in each of the first four games we’ve played thus far. This is an area that will undoubtedly improve as the young season matures, but for now it’s troubling. No Tucson homers in yesterday’s game and no stolen bases. The latter item is already something of an anomaly…we’ve got some quick feet out there and the guys seem to be aggressive (and successful) on the base paths. Final score: Tucson 2; Colorado Springs 12.
The Tucson Padres kickoff a four-game stand against the Bees in Salt Lake this evening. The game will be available online off the T-Pads web page. It is scheduled to begin at 5:35pm (local). (The Bees have already faced weather postponements this season. Right now the temp in SLC is 62 degrees, mostly cloudy, 40% chance of rain. Let’s hope the Bees will face the Padres on schedule tonight!)
LeBlanc Already Gone! Welcome back to the minor leagues, fans! The San Diego Padres have already called up our opening day starting pitcher, Wade LeBlanc, to play in the Bigs. In other transactions, the Padres sent RHP Samuel Deduno and OF Cedric Hunter to Tucson. For details on the transactions, click here: Moves
Weird Start in the MLB. The Texas Rangers are really the only team that is NOT off to a surprising start in 2011. (Well, I guess I could argue that the Tampa Bay Rays are playing just as poorly as I expected, too.) Though they didn’t win the 2010 World Series, the Rangers played well through the season and playoffs last year…they appear to be on the same path this season with their eight and one record to date. But who would’ve guessed that the Boston Red Sox (after acquiring sluggers Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford) would be only two and seven out of the gate (it’s probably some consolation to them that the two wins were against archenemy, the New York Yankees!). Baltimore at the top of the AL East? Are you kidding me? And how could the Atlanta Braves be at the bottom of the NL East (with a four and six record)? The season just seems upside down right now. But give it time! And how ‘bout those D-Backs? Sure they’re only middle of the NL West pack right now, but they showed some surprising signs of life (or of the changes they needed to make to finally get out of the NL dumps) in the series they just WON against the very good Cincinnati Reds. Perhaps they have finally left the worst behind them. Let’s go Arizona!
Four Days! Don’t forget the Tucson Padres Home Opener will be this Friday, April 15th! I’ve got my tickets! Will I see you there?
(Disclaimer – This posting has not been reviewed/approved by Pima County, the City of Tucson, the Tucson Toros, the Reno Aces, the Tucson Padres, Tucson AAA Baseball, Diamondbacks, Padres, PCL, MiLB, MLB, Golden Baseball League, National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, Tucson Baseball LLC, SK Baseball LLC, or any other baseball official and represents the views and biases of the author alone)
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Diamonds in the Desert: A Baseball Blog from Tucson 