Padres@Brewers 9/27/07-9/30/07

[DirtyKash]

Callaspo singles!

4-3 game!

[777rak]

Sorry Padres we could not help you

[DirtyKash]

arghhhhhhhhhh

[HollywoodLeo]

The Padres decided to roll over when they started Brett Tomko in their most important game of the year yet.

They were assured a tie.

Better to try and save Jake for game 1 of the NLDS, or worst case scenario, use him for the game that's now more important than today's, rather than risking him having another short outing in today's game on short rest and then having to use Tomko tomorrow....

[DirtyKash]

tomorrow's game counts as regular season stats right? So Peavy's going for win #20? That'd be pretty sick.

[realmofotalk]

They were assured a tie.

Better to try and save Jake for game 1 of the NLDS, or worst case scenario, use him for the game that's now more important than today's, rather than risking him having another short outing in today's game on short rest and then having to use Tomko tomorrow....

This coming from someone who believes that the history of other players has no effect on an individual player, in this case being Jake Peavy.

Better to try and win the game ****ing pronto rather than having your backs to the wall and to face the Rockies when they're more likely to bring their A-game.

[HollywoodLeo]

This coming from someone who believes that the history of other players has no effect on an individual player, in this case being Jake Peavy.

Right, but the history of Jake Peavy has bearing on Jake Peavy, since it was Jake Peavy who had a horrible outing his last time on 3 days rest.

That being said, he pitched well on 3 days rest a couple years ago, but there's no need to chance it when...

Better to try and win the game ****ing pronto rather than having your backs to the wall and to face the Rockies when they're more likely to bring their A-game.

Jake Peavy gives you a better chance to win than Brett Tomko, but no pitcher is a guarantee.

When you're pitching Jake Peavy on 3 days rest you're lessoning your chances of him having a Jake Peavy-esque outing.

It's about the odds. The worst case scenario that they chose is better than the worst case scenario had they gone with Jake today.

The best case scenario in going with Tomko today is better than the best case scenario in going with Jake today. (Guaranteeing not having him for game 1...if there is a game 1, of course.)

It seems like a no brainer to me.

I'd rather have Jake Peavy on the mound on full rest with the proverbial backs against the wall than Brett Tomko.

[FmrFresnan]

I try to never be a pessimist, but I don't have a good feeling about tomorrow. For one, Colorado kicked our ass for 3 games last weekend, including losing a game that Jake started, but got no run support. With the way the Rockies have been playing, I will be one the most nervous Padre fans anywhere.

[Rockiesfan_H]

This should be fun, guys. I'm just enjoying the ride again (finally). Good luck

[padrefanforever]

Padres on the road, give me a much better feeling than at home.........at least we have an offense on the road that typically shows up......add to that we're playing at the house Khalil built........Kouz is white hot still........Giles is hitting nicely, AGon is hitting etc.........and if we spot Peavy 4+ I think this is going to be a very very good ending for the good guys

[DirtyKash]

Helplessly hoping

By Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports
September 30, 2007



MILWAUKEE – No one wanted to utter the first word. They all just sat there, on the green leather couches and around the onyx tables and in the blue folding chairs, waiting for someone to cut through the depression.

"Come on," Adrian Gonzalez said, and his whisper echoed through the San Diego Padres' clubhouse Sunday afternoon. The Colorado-Arizona game being shown on all five televisions – the one that transfixed a couple dozen grown men, most still in uniform – was in the ninth inning, and Rockies closer Manny Corpas had thrown three consecutive balls with a runner on first and no outs.

Already, the Padres had blown their chance at clinching the National League wild-card berth. Now, they hoped, the Rockies would tank their game and allow the Padres to slink into the postseason the easy way.

When Arizona's Carlos Quentin laced a double to left field, the rest of the Padres joined Gonzalez in exercising their vocal cords. Temporarily, at least, every one of them had forgotten the embarrassing 11-6 loss to Milwaukee only an hour earlier, and the soul-reaming 4-3 defeat Saturday night, and the injury to their best hitter, Milton Bradley, suffered arguing a call last week – about the menagerie of things gone wrong to put the Padres in this position, facing Colorado in a one-game playoff Monday.

Gonzalez, the Padres' steady first baseman, sat on the floor at Miller Park sipping iced tea and finishing his pasta and meatballs. Marcus Giles, their wacky second baseman, plopped next to him. Cla Meredith, the reliever who had blown the lead against the Brewers, lounged on another couch. They criticized swings and analyzed pitches, discussed the long shadows and showed disgust when Arizona's Jeff Cirillo watched a hanging slider flutter through the strike zone, prayed and crossed fingers and hoped the baseball gods would smite Colorado for once.

When Corpas recorded the final out and stranded the tying runner, completing the Rockies' surge to the same 89-73 record of the Padres and forcing Monday's 7:30 p.m. ET do-or-die, the tension finally broke, the gloom lifted and the Padres, so forlorn, forced themselves to embrace optimism.

"We'll beat 'em tomorrow," boomed reliever Doug Brocail.

Of course, that the Padres found themselves in such a position seemed inconceivable enough. In spite of the injuries, the insipid offense and the questionable fielding, the Padres all season exuded the kind of calm that defines winners.

Or fools.

Initially, they looked the former Sunday. Brian Giles led off the game with a monster 444-foot home run off Milwaukee's Jeff Suppan, Geoff Blum knocked a bases-loaded double and the Padres ended the first inning with a 3-0 advantage and Brett Tomko on the mound.

The Tomko who showed up looked more the flake of 11 seasons past than the stud of September, a productive waiver-wire pickup for San Diego from the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Brewers picked him apart and attacked San Diego's vaunted bullpen like vultures on the prey, their own playoff hopes dashed a few days ago.

As the Brewers piled on – 6-4 became 9-4, then 10-4, then 11-4 – Jake Peavy sat in the dugout and started thinking about Colorado. The Padres' ace and shoo-in NL Cy Young winner, who will pitch against the Rockies' Josh Fogg, had arrived early here to look at video of his last start as well as his previous one against Colorado.

"They're hot," Peavy said. "They're as good as anyone in baseball. But they're definitely a beatable team."

While manager Bud Black talked about how falling behind against Milwaukee was "deflating" and Tomko lamented that he felt "like I let the guys down," Peavy tried to divert the attention toward tomorrow. He stood the tallest and grinned the most. He even chuckled about how Saturday night he lost his money clip at a local casino.

"Hey, we're starting the playoffs with Game 7," Peavy said. "This is going to be fun. I'm excited about the opportunity. And I think the boys will come out battling, fighting tomorrow. The season is on the line. That's fun. You play 162 and you still need one more to decide if you're going home or you're in."

In his two starts against Colorado this season, Peavy has allowed two runs in 14 innings. For his career at Coors Field, he is 3-3 with a 3.96 earned-run average. If there is any team suited for a one-game playoff in the NL, it is the Padres, and only because Peavy wears their uniform.

Well, that and their general demeanor. All was back to normal 10 minutes after the Rockies game ended. The Padres held a quick meeting. They showered. The Giles brothers made regular trips to the cooler between their lockers stocked with beer.

"If these two games depleted us," Brian Giles said, "we don't deserve to move on anyway."

Eventually, everyone dragged their luggage toward the door. The itinerary on it called for a 6 p.m. departure on Swift Air 3236. They were supposed to land in San Diego by 8:10 p.m.

Not anymore. No, the Padres have to earn this postseason bid. And they have one last chance to do it.

[HollywoodLeo]

I try to never be a pessimist, but I don't have a good feeling about tomorrow. For one, Colorado kicked our ass for 3 games last weekend, including losing a game that Jake started, but got no run support. With the way the Rockies have been playing, I will be one the most nervous Padre fans anywhere.

I think we'll all be nervous.

It's hard not to be nervous when it's a win-or-go home type game, no matter how good your team is or isn't, that's the nature of sports.

I'll be very nervous as I text for scores from work today. (I won't even be able to watch it...)

I'd be nervous even if the Padres had swept the season series against the Rocks this year.

But, Jake Peavy on the mound is the best set up for success we can get.

[JayDawg27]

If they lose I dont feel sorry for them and will look forward to the off season. it was theirs to lose, all they had to do was take care of business and they failed to do so. It is what it is. I hope the best for them tomorrow and hope they make it into the play-offs because we all know thats a whole new season, but again, it's their own fault they are in the pickle they're in.

[padrefanforever]

If Jake pitches well, and they beat our best...........there isn't much more we can do............so we need to play a fundmentally sound game, hit the ball, score, and see where we're at when the dust settles.

But at the very least we need to show up and play a good game

[JayDawg27]

Which is why if they do lose I wont lose any sleep over it and wont feel bad for them, because we are a better team, should have won the west again, and if they can't close it out in a winning fashion, then too bad so sad, enjoy watching the games from your Lay-Z-Boy, you guys fell apart and folded.