Troubled Waters

There was good news and there was bad news for the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night.

The good news was that recent call-up Justin Hampson pitched very well over 3.2 innings, shutting down the Rockies. The bad news was, that the Padres needed Hampson for 3.2 innings.

After starter and MLB ERA leader Chris Young went down after 2 innings pitched with a strained abdominal muscle, Hampson came in and threw nearly four innings of shutout ball and was an integral part of the Padres 5-3 win over the Colorado Rockies. After the game manager Bud Black said that Young would likely miss his next start, previously scheduled for Sunday.

Victory and everything that goes with it aside, if Chris Young is down for any significant amount of time this ball club is in some serious trouble. For a team last in all of baseball in runs scored, they need their starting pitching to be lights out and with Young, Jake Peavy, Justin Germano, Greg Maddux and David Wells, it has been for most of the year. However now, with Young down for at least a week, if not more, this team will need a little boost from the bats in the lineup to keep pace with the Dodgers, Rockies and Diamondbacks.

On to the win, the Padres were able to put 3 runs up on the board against rookie Ubaldo Jimenez in his 7 innings pitched and then added two more against reliever Ramon Ramirez to get the win.

Jimenez was making only his second start of the season and the third start of his Big League career. He did all he could, keeping the Rockies in it for seven innings and giving them a chance to gain some ground on the 2nd place Padres who are 4.5 games up on Colorado. If Jimenez can keep this up, he may become an invaluable piece of the puzzle for the Rockies who are searching desperately for some quality starting pitching to help them keep up in the intense arms race that is the NL West.

The Rockies now need to focus on getting All-Star slugger Matt Holliday back to form as his offensive numbers have dropped off the radar. After being one of the hottest batters in all of baseball before the All-Star Break, Holliday has cooled off dramatically since going a pitiful 8 for 45 in his past 13 games for an average of .167. Holliday has added 2 homers and 8 RBI in that span but Colorado needs him at his 1st half form in order to even think about contending in the very treacherous NL West.

We should find out fairly early tomorrow whether or not Young will be hitting the disabled list, and if indeed he does, be sure to monitor the situation in San Diego. Long thought to be in the market for one more arm, it might become necessary rather than optional for Padres GM Kevin Towers.

A near no-no

Dustin McGowan of the Blue Jays was three outs away from joining Mark Buehrle and Justin Verlander in the 2007 no hitters club, but he lost it on Rockies outfielder Jeff Baker with a single in the ninth. McGowan still went on to throw the complete game shutout.

While McGowan has been maddeningly inconsistent all season long, perhaps the most interesting part of this near no-no is the fact that he got roughed up big-time in his last outing as he faced the Dodgers but could only go 1.2 and gave up six runs on eight hits. Bizarre.

And truthfully, if I had to have guessed any Blue Jay who would have pitched a performance like this, it would have been McGowan’s fellow upstart Shaun Marcum who has been more consistent and has a solid 3.38 ERA. Shows what I know.

The Rockies can’t be too happy with the sweep at the hands of the Jays as they were riding a big high after taking the Yankees for a three game sweep at home earlier in the week. Matt Holliday’s 2 of 14 performance in the series didn’t help matters.