The Padres' starting pitcher has been hurt on each of the past three days either just before or during the game. Clay Hensley missed Saturday's start with hip soreness, so the Padres called up Mike Thompson from Triple-A Portland to replace him. After a mix-up at airport security (his ticket was in the name of Portland teammate Brian Sweeney), Thompson got to Petco Park just in time to start the game.The following afternoon, Chris Young went down after one inning due to a strained right rhomboid muscle -- a fancy way of saying that he strained the muscle which connects his shoulder to his spine. The Padres were faced with the fact that they had to fill eight innings on the mound, and Hensley filled in admirably for four of them.
But, alas, that wasn't all for San Diego, a team which is currently hovering a game over .500, two games behind the Reds for the wild card and three games behind the Dodgers for first place in the N.L. West. Just before the first game of an important three-game set against the Dodgers, Monday's scheduled starter, Chan Ho Park, experienced a recurrance of the intestinal bleeding which landed him on the DL last month. The Padres wanted to turn to Brian Sweeney, but he had just pitched seven innings for Portland. Dewon Brazelton was an option, but he isn't on the Padres' 40-man roster, so some extra roster juggling would have been necessary.
Tim Stauffer, who was just 6-12 with a 5.07 ERA in 25 Triple-A games this season, was summoned to make the emergency start. He earned the victory after pitching six innings and allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits and a walk. All this after he arrived just a few hours before game-time.
Hopefully the Padres' incredible, maybe even unprecedented, streak of bad luck will end on Tuesday night. Hopefully their scheduled starter, Jake Peavy, hasn't broken any mirrors or walked under any ladders lately. As for the upcoming three-game weekend series in Colorado, the Padres are totally up in the air. Hensley is hoping to pitch on Friday. Young might still pitch on Saturday, even though manager Bruce Bochy said on Sunday that he would probably land on the 15-day DL. And no one knows about Park's status for Sunday, but he's very questionable at best. The Padres are hanging around in this very wild N.L. West race, but barely. Who knows who'll pitch this weekend. Maybe head trainer Todd Hutcheson should warm up his arm.
Posted by Ted Rossman at 8/21/2006 11:26:00 PM
