Padres Pounded at Petco

The San Diego Padres are aware, perhaps painfully, of their one game NL West lead over the upstate Giants. San Francisco whipped out the bats in the series opener at Petco Park last night, while the Friars’ offense was just batty. The Giants’ victory allowed them to pull within one game of the division and one game behind Atlanta for the NL wildcard. San Francisco banged out 13 hits as Matt Cain took a three-hitter into the ninth for his 11th win of the season. The Giants topped the Padres 7-3.
Leadoff hitter, Andres Torres, got the ball rolling in the top of the first as the Giants began their quest to defeat Jon Garland for the first time. Torres tripled off the San Diego starter, and scored on Freddy Sanchez’s base hit to center. The Giants surged to a three run lead in the third frame after a Sanchez stolen base and an Aubrey Huff homerun. It was Huff’s 24th of the season and put Bruce Bochy’s team in a favorable position. San Diego tallied a run in this crucial series during the bottom half of the third. Will Venable launched a solo shot off Cain to trim the deficit to two runs.
The visiting Giants enjoyed a six run advantage by the sixth inning, however. Juan Uribe added to the homerun parade with a one-run blast, his 20th long ball of the season, in the fourth. Huff, who finished 3-for-4, ignited the scoring in the fifth after Cain worked a hitless bottom of the fourth. Huff pasted a right field double that was followed by Buster Posey’s homerun to left field. Reliever Kevin Correia replaced Garland in the sixth with the Padres trailing by five. Pat Burrell’s towering, 421-foot shot to left added to the Giants’ lead in the sixth. The Padres scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the ninth but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Giants’ powerful offensive showing. Ryan Ludwick slammed a full count offering into the seats off Cain. Cain surrendered three runs on five hits before leaving the game. Javier Lopez and Ramon Ramirez closed out the game for the Giants, who have won five of their last six games. Garland suffered the loss after yielding eight hits and six runs through five frames. A tough game two is in store for both teams tonight. No-hit pitcher, Jonathan Sanchez opposes San Diego southpaw, Clayton Richard. Richard is 3-0 in four starts against the Giants this year. Both teams will be going for their 80th win of the season and control of first place in the West.

Parting Points: A bit of a snooze-fest to start the NFL season, but the real excitement takes place on Sunday.

The Cowboys extended Miles Austin’s contract for six years, which is a good move for Dallas. See previous blog entry for reasons why this is good!

A few marquee matchups on the college football slate this weekend: Ohio State-Miami, Alabama-Penn State and Florida State-Oklahoma.