Padres Series Recap: Padres Sweep Giants Once Again
The long and winding MLB season is filled with many twist, turns and surprises. Well this 2016 season has been more unpredictable than ever especially for the San Diego Padres.
The Padres would of course struggle severely against the San Francisco Giants in the beginning of the season. In fact they would end up losing the first nine games that they would play against them. Well the Giants and Padres are two totally different teams now than from those first three series.
The Padres traded away some veteran players who were having decent seasons. Which made room for guys like Ryan Schimpf to rise above the ranks. The Giants on the other hand did not make too many changes. In fact they even brought a few players in which were supposed to make the team better like former Twins’ all-star, Eduardo Nunez.
It didn’t work as the Giants have been one of the worst teams in baseball since the all-star break. The Padres would face them right after the all-star break and get an unlikely series sweep against them. This would come after the Padres would have already lost nine straight games against them. Well the Padres extended that winning streak against the Giants in this series.
The Padres would incredibly sweep the Giants once again. So after losing nine straight against the Giants, the Padres have now swept them twice in the second half of the season. Not only did the Padres sweep the Giants, but they also held them to only five runs in the series. Every single component was on point in this series. From the pitching to the hitting, everything seemed to go right in this series.
Game One: He Proved Me Wrong
I had predicted that it was almost impossible that the Padres would win the series opener. Mainly due to the fact that Paul Clemens would be on the mound. Well Paul Clemens thankfully proved me and other Friar faithful wrong on Monday night. Clemens would pitch his best outing of the season. He would throw five scoreless innings and only allow a walk and three hits. The bullpen would also work flawlessly, throwing four scoreless innings and only allowing two hits. The Padres would do some nice work against Jeff Samardzija as he would allow four runs to score in six innings.
“The Shark” would look solid as he would only allow a walk and strike out six batters. But it would not be enough since he would get no run support by Buster Posey or any of his teammates. The four runs in the game would all come via Venezuelan ball players. Yangervis Solarte would get himself a pair of RBI in the game via a single and a ground out. Then in the sixth inning former Gigante, Hector Sanchez would strike a two-run shot to seal the deal. The Game would end 4-0. Brandon Maurer would step in the ninth inning and close the door on the Giants to seal the victory. The Padres would start off this series more perfect than anything I had in mind. They would start it off strong with a very nice outing from an unlikely source.
Game Two: Comeback With A Side Of Schimpf
The Padres would then continue this series with an even more amazing game. Clayton Richard would be on the mound for the Padres. Which lately has been like having Clayton Kershaw on the mound. Richard has been absolutely amazing this season. He would have another strong outing in this game as well. The lefty would go five and two-thirds and allow three runs on eleven hits. Richard would weave himself out of trouble and fall just short of another quality outing. The bullpen would be decent as only Jose Dominguez would allow a home run. Other than that the bullpen would be solid. In terms of offense we would see a total of 10 runs in this game. The Padres would be the first ones to strike via an RBI single from Luis Sardinas. After that the Friars offense would stay quiet and the Giants offense would emerge.The Giants would get themselves four runs from the third inning to the seventh inning of the game. Angel Pagan and Gorkys Hernandez would provide home runs for their team. Hunter Pence would also provide an RBI double as well. The Giants would have a comfortable 4-1 lead after seven innings of play.
The Padres would start their comeback in the ninth inning of the game. Hunter Strickland would start off his ninth in the worst way possible, he would walk Wil Myers with the bases loaded. The Padres would be gifted a run by Strickland. Yangervis Solarte would then get the Padres another run with a ground out. The game would now be at an intense 4-3 scoreline. Ryan Schimpf would step to the plate with two runners on and Steven Okert on the mound. Schimpf would do the improbable and blast his 19th home run of the season. The three run blast would help the Padres overcome the Giants in the second game of the series. The Friars would provide an amazingly exciting game for the fans on Tuesday night. They also officially won the series.
Game Three: Six In A Row
The improbability of the game of baseball is something truly beautiful. Who would have thought going into this game that not only the Padres would win but that Luis Perdomo would outperform Madison Bumgarner. Well that would be the case in this game as Luis Perdomo would pitch six and a third and only allow a run on four hits and one lone walk. Perdomo has had these sparks of brilliance throughout the season before. But to do it against Madison Bumgarner is really special.
The Padres would manage to get to Bumgarner and score three runs off the lengthy lefty. Yangervis Solarte would provide the first run of the game via a ground out. Alex Dickerson and Luis Sardinas would then provide an RBI single each later on in the game. The lone run from the Giants would come from Joe Panik via an RBI single in the second inning. The Game would end 3-1 and the Padres would sweep the Giants once again. After losing nine straight against the Giants, the Friars have now won six straight against that same team. This is really something mind bottling and just out of comprehension for a human being. It’s just the crazy game that we call Baseball. Go Padres!
Francisco, 26, Chula Vista/Tijuana. I have been a Padres fan all my life, did most of the series previews and recaps in the Padres’ 2016 season for EVT. Now I focus more on the local soccer scene. Tijuana Xolos, San Diego Loyal, San Diego Wave.