San Diego Padres: Week #11 recap

News and notes from the eleventh week of the season, a week in which the San Diego Padres finally began to give fans reason to be excited about the future.

With three games versus the Cincinnati Reds and three more versus the division leading Milwaukee Brewers, the Friars flashed a little of what the future could look like with their young starters and position players. Using the regular season to develop young talent is not always the easiest thing to watch for the fan base. There have been blowouts and lopsided execution on display but also glimpses of the talent currently on the roster.

This past week was rare in that the starting pitching stepped up with some quality pitching and led the Padres to a 4-2 record for the week. Sweeping a series at home against the Reds, the Padres got quality innings from Clayton Richard, Jhoulys Chacin and Luis Perdomo. Richard was one out short of a complete game in the first game of the series.

The hitters also feasted on Reds pitching, especially Yangervis Solarte. He is lighting up the scoreboard with his four homers during the week. Center fielder Franchy Cordero has drawn attention to himself with his bat and his glove. Hitting consistently around .300, Cordero has  driven in five runs over the last seven days and made some great running catches in the field.

First baseman Wil Myers has started showing some signs of coming out of his month long slump with improved at bats, making more contact and driving the ball more consistently.

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Despite losing 2 of 3 versus the Brewers, all three games were quality baseball with the Padres three young starters (Perdomo, Dinelson Lamet and Miguel Diaz) all showing well.

The Brewers talented hitters executed well against the bullpen in the first game but Lamet got some revenge in game 2 with 12 strikeouts and a dominant performance. It was a huge improvement over his last 2 starts and a testament to the work pitching coach Darren Balsley is putting in with these young guns.

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Phil Maton, brought up last week and pitching well so far, got his first major league save with a flawless performance closing the second game. He has advanced quickly through the minor league system (2 seasons) and could be the closer of the future.

Although the Friars lost 2 of 3 against the Brewers the starting staff amassed 21 strikeouts in the 3 game series and Lamet had the second most strikeouts ever for a Padres rookie pitcher.

Weeks like this should give fans hope of what is to come, especially with the continued reports of development in the minor system of our top prospects.

Next: Brad Hand: The bullpen's iron man

The next week brings an away series against the Cubs and at home versus the Tigers.