Padres Cash In on Pitching Health

Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Phillies Recap

Monday night was nearly a special night. Andrew Cashner fired off his second 2 hit shutout of the season, this time only allowing a controversial bunt single in the 5th inning but still finishing off the gem with just two hits. He had a no hitter until the bunt single. For my take, it was a 1-0 game with a massive shift, so I don’t blame Dominic Brown for breaking one of this unwritten rules of baseball for bunting in that situation. Maybe if it was a 8-0 Padres lead, or later in the game, but not a 1-0 game. The Phillies have nearly the exact same record as the Padres entering and leaving their series with them, and both teams are just fighting to finish the season and see what next year will bring.

 Alexi Amarista was the offensive hero on Tuesday, who might make the Padres think about dumping oft-suspended and injured Everth Cabrera, homering, doubling, and singling in the victory. That with a another legal cloud still hanging over Mr. Cabrera. Ian Kennedy pitched six innings allowing 3 runs, striking out 7. Nick Vincent and Frank Garces picked up holds, and Kevin Quackenbush picked up his 4th save despite allowing a run in the ninth. Rookie Rymer Liriano, who overall has struggled, did go 3-4 in the victory as well.

 Wednesday local boy Cole Hamels turned in another standard performance for him. He is now 9-7 with a 2.47 ERA and it will be interesting to see if he is kept by the Phillies next season or traded somewhere else to fully rebuild. While the Phillies are holding onto him, Cliff Lee, Chase Utley and others is beyond me, as this team is clearly too old to win again. Eric Stults hung in there until the 5th before falling apart for his 17th loss on the season. I still argue he has pitched certainly much better than his 7-17 record shows, and hope the Padres keep him in their plans for 2015 at least as a reliable arm that does not get hurt. We shall see.

Thursday they capped off the series in delightful style, scoring 7 runs in Robbie Erlin’s return to the mound. Amarista added his second homer in as many nights (5 on the year), forgotten Will Venable hit his 7th, and Seth Smith and Yasmani Grandal each went 2-4.  The story though was Erlin. At the start of the year, he was looked at being the 5th starter, and pitched pretty well in that role. Then he got hurt and hadn’t been seen since. Thursday though he pitched 6 solid innings, striking out 4, walking NONE, and only allowing 1 run. It was a great way to finish out the series, but the Padres were just getting warmed up for the weekend.