San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
PADRES IN A GOOD SPOT
Mariners win, but Reds loss shrinks magic number to 1
The Padres were playing to turn the inevitable into reality Saturday night.
“It’s an exciting time to be a Padre for sure right now,” infielder Greg Garcia said before the game against the Mariners at Petco Park. “We’ve put ourselves in a really good position. We’re going to treat it as a normal game, go out and compete like we know we can and play Padres baseball. Whatever happens happens. We’re definitely in a good spot.”
The Padres actually may have been a little overeager in some instances Saturday, running themselves out of two innings early. On top of the baserunning blunders, a bullpen game becoming necessary didn’t help.
And so, after a 4-1 loss to the Mariners, the Padres will wait at least a day.
They will take the field today knowing their next victory clinches the franchise’s first postseason berth since 2006.
It might not even take that.
The Reds play the White Sox at 10:10 a.m. PT, and a timely Cincinnati loss would make the Padres a playoff team, possibly by the time the first pitch is thrown in their 1:10 p.m. series finale against the Mariners.
But with the math being what it is with seven games remaining, this all has the feel of a cake in the oven. Ev
three runs off Trevor Hoffman, including one of the most controversial scores in modern baseball history.
Padres catcher Michael Barrett blocked the plate with his foot. Holliday’s hand never appeared to find the mark, but he was ruled safe.
Left in the ashes of that game, 2010 and beyond: The Padres own one playoff victory since the National League Championship Series in 1998. The playoff record during that stretch stands, painfully, at 1-10.
“It’s a long time,” former Padres manager Bruce Bochy said. “I think it goes to show you how difficult it can be. They’ve had some good teams. Good for them. They have a very nice, wellrounded club, good starting pitching, good bullpen. They’re scary offensively.”
The Padres entered the
2006 playoffs brimming with confidence against the Cardinals, whose 83 wins were the fewest of any qualifier. The Cardinals brushed aside the Padres in four games and won the whole thing.
The Padres finished 2-for-32 with runners in scoring position during the series against the eventual champs.
“It’s frustrating, because that wasn’t who we were during the season,” said Bochy, who left the Padres after that season and went on to win the World Series three times with the Giants. “We were a good hitting team and a clutch hitting team. We created good opportunities. We just couldn’t get that hit to get it rolling.
“That’s life in the playoffs.”
Gonzalez still plays the what-if game in his head about a ball he sliced into the left-field corner during Game 1 against the Cardinals.
The Padres trailed 3-0 in the fourth inning with runners on first and second. Gonzalez sent a 2-2 pitch toward left off starter Chris Carpenter. It landed foul by a few feet.
Carpenter then caught Gonzalez flat-footed for a strikeout.
“That could have sparked it,” said Gonzalez, who said he inquired about rejoining the Padres the last two seasons but the club lacked interest. “I didn’t expect a curveball. I was thinking he was going to the fastball inside or a cutter. Typically during the regular season he didn’t throw that pitch. He’s a veteran who was confident, so he froze me.”
The turning point, Bochy said, came in crucial Game 2.
Padres starter David Wells was in a pitcher’s duel with Jeff Weaver. The game was scoreless in the fourth inning when Preston Wilson led off with a double. Albert Pujols followed with a runscoring
single and later scored himself for the only runs in the game.
“Wells, he was such a competitor,” Bochy said. “He wasn’t comfortable pitching around guys and Pujols got a big hit off of him. I kind of kick myself there for not forcing it (being careful with Pujols). That pitch got away from him.
“You can lose one, but you can’t lose two at home. But Boomer (Wells) did his job. We didn’t score any runs for him.”
The series was sealed in the fourth inning of Game 4, when the Cardinals scored four times in the 6-2 win. Bochy lamented a ballstrike call on Pujols that jump-started the inning and a well-placed hit that caused the Padres to wilt.
Woody Williams was throwing well, until a questionable pitch led to a walk.
“I thought that was a good pitch, so that was frustrating,” Bochy said.
The dagger came off the bat of Juan Encarnacion. Television broadcasters relayed that Encarnacion had been hitless in his last 19 postseason at-bats at home, dating back to his time with the Marlins.
The run-scoring triple came off Cla Meredith, who led all National League relievers by holding opponents to a .170 batting average during the season. He also strung together a franchise record scoreless streak of 332⁄3 innings that season.
“We just weren’t able to come away with that big hit, you know?” said Gonzalez, who hit .357 in the series. “We had guys on base. We weren’t able to create that rally and momentum. That’s why we lost that series.”
Fourteen years later, the Padres are poised for another shot.
Finally.
bryce.miller@sduniontribune.com
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