One Inning

A little over a week ago, April 18th to be exact, I was at the Padres-Diamondbacks game in which the Padres came from behind and scored 5 runs in the 7th, and went on to win the game. This was the third win of their eventual 8-game streak. And it stuck out to me that this year's team wasn't just having a strong, lucky start (like last year); they actually have it in them to pull out a victory and score some runs when they need to.

Further proof: Today. Correia came out of the gate shakier than he has all season, giving up 4 runs in the first 3 innings. Then, in the 5th inning, when the Padres knew they needed to get some runs on the board - they did. 10 batters went to the plate and 5 runs were scored. Correia came back out and finished the 5th before handing it off to Mujica, Gregerson, Adams and Bell to hold and save his win.

Another series win after back-to-back Marlin-crushing victories shows that Monday’s outlier was more about how good Josh Johnson was than how bad the Padres were.

I’ll be at two of the next four home games versus the Brewers (including Friday’s Beerfest with the cast of “Beerfest!”) this weekend and couldn’t be more ecstatic about the superb, awe-inspiring play of the San Diego Padres. And yes, that is the hyperbole Joe just mentioned that is fully allowed when the Padres are winning.

PS. Why did we let Clay Hensley go? He struck out 6 batters in 2 innings today for the Marlins. No hits. No walks. 6. Straight. Strikeouts. I always loved that Ratatouille-looking creature. Padres Fun Fact #1: Hensley and Josh Barfield were roommates in a condo in Mission Valley during our illustrious 2006 season. Padres Fun Fact #2: Barfield is playing for the Portland Beavers this year.

But, Hensley's ridiculously dominating two innings aside, all the Padres needed was one inning. One inning to score their runs. And they did it, again.