How’s That For a Blowout?

I don’t normally post about individual games (small sample sizes and all that), but I have to take an exception for yesterday’s 17-2 blowout of Atlanta.

The 17 runs for the Padres are the most by any team ever at Petco Park. Two batters, Will Venable and Kyle Blanks (who are both on my fantasy team!) finished one hit short of the cycle; no Padres batter has ever hit a single, double, triple, and homer in the same game.

It was the highest run total for the Padres in 2 1/2 years.

Kevin Correia did a nice job corralling a solid Atlanta lineup, but the story of the game on the pitching side was Adam Russell.

Making his 2010 debut after being recalled from Triple-A Portland earlier in the day, the 6’8″ righthander threw two scoreless innings, striking out three.

If Russell can keep that up, it’s going to be hard for the Padres to send him down when Chris Young and/or Joe Thatcher return from the DL.

As for Blanks, the 3-for-6 with a homer outburst puts concerns of his early-season slump to rest; his batting average jumped nearly 100 points in the game to .240. This is why I didn’t post about his awful start earlier–until a month or more has passed, the sample size is simply insufficient to matter.

Venable has been a shocker thus far; despite a .296 OBP, he’s been one of the most valuable players in the game in 2010. A .667 slugging percentage will do that. It’s concerning he hasn’t walked yet in 27 plate appearances, however; he’ll need to work on that.

Perhaps the biggest shocker in the 17-run outburst is that Atlanta’s starting pitcher was the ultra-solid Jair Jurrjens, who allowed 8 earned runs on eight hits and two walks, failing to get out of the fourth inning and only striking out one batter.

That reliever Jo-Jo Reyes (career 6.40 ERA) was shelled comes as less of a surprise.

Anyway, whether you’re a big picture guy like me or a short-term thinker, you have to enjoy a game like this.