Rafael Betancourt – Padre Killer

At the start of each series, we at Chicken Friars will zero in on an opposing player known to be a “Padre Killer.”

No matter the day, time or place, this player is known to be a one-man wrecking crew when it comes to playing against the San Diego Padres.

In this column, I will analyze that player’s statistics against the Friars and try to offer some insight into how not to let that player beat our beloved team.

In most cases an opposing team’s star player is the one featured as a Padre Killer (if they actually are a Padre Killer). Such is the case for Colorado Rockies’ outfielder Carlos Gonzalez.

The problem is, it is standard policy of this column to not feature a player as a Padre Killer more than once.

Being that Gonzalez was advertised as a Padre Killer the last time the Padres and Rockies hooked up, he will not be a Padre Killer this time around.

This policy had me digging deep to figure out who the next Padre Killer would be for the woeful Rockies,  since the team seems to have a who’s who kind of roster.

After thumbing threw the roster, I found an unlikely source to be a Padre Killer.

There has never been a relief pitcher spotlighted as a Padre Killer, but Rafael Betancourt changed that because he is a Padre Killer.

Don’t believe me? Then check out his destruction against the Padres.

Not only is the Rockies closer a Padre Killer, but he has also been stellar throughout his whole career at Coors Field, which is highly known to be a hitter-friendly ballpark. In 120 career games at his home ballpark, Betancourt is 7-2 with an earned run average of 3.40 and 9.6 strikeouts-per-nine-innings.

The Rockies are one of the worst teams in baseball, so the most obvious and perhaps easiest way for the Padres to avoid facing Betancourt is to not fall behind in any of the three games. Betancourt mainly comes into shut the door on his opponents, so if the Padres want to avoid the door being slammed they need to win all three games.