Sunday, April 12, 2009

Henry Blanco's Two-Homer Game Leads Padres Past Giants

If you couldn't tell how much chemistry Jake Peavy has with catcher Henry Blanco, it was certainly evident last night.

The San Diego Padres' right-hander pitched 8 1/3 innings, giving up three runs on seven hits while striking out ten, not to mention he didn't walk a batter all night as Peavy would pick up his first win of the season in a 6-3 Padres' victory.

His catcher, former Cub Henry Blanco, wouldn't allow Jake to steal the show. With the game scoreless in the third inning, Blanco would get his first home-run of the season giving the Padres a 1-0 lead. In the home half of the 5th inning, game tied at 1-1, Blanco made sure Giants' starter Jonathan Sanchez remembered his name as Blanco sent a fastball into the upper deck in left field giving the Padres a 2-1 lead. Later that inning, with the bases loaded, first baseman Adrian Gonzalez gave the knockout punch with a bases clearing double for a 5-2 lead.

For Jake Peavy, it was his 28th career start in which he finished with double-digit strikeouts. You can also tell that Peavy enjoys the chemistry that he shares with his catcher. "I think communication is the big thing. I spent a lot of time talking about what I do to be successful. He's as good as anyone I've been with talking about before the game and going out and executing. We really do follow pitch-by-pitch what we want to do."

It also didn't hurt that the Padres gave Peavy the run support that they didn't give him in his first start against the Los Angeles Dodgers. After their third straight win last night, the momentum is certainly there, it's how they carry it into each and every game that is going to be the most important. The rotation has been better than expected, the bullpen has given up just three runs in their 16 innings of work thus far and closer Heath Bell is 3-for-3 in save chances. Things are going the right way for this team, how the rest of the season goes is yet to be seen.

The San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres will be back at it again tonight from Petco Park. The Giants will have young ace Tim Lincecum on the hill tonight against Padres' right-hander Chris Young.

No comments: