Hoffman Bounces Back and Hairston Does It Yet Again

Randy Wolf started his first game as a Padre and he looked good, all be it against a not so potent Astros lineup. Wolf threw a perfect first and got a little help from a Kevin Kouzmanoff two run blast in the bottom of the first. He left in the 7th after striking out 5 and handing over a 2-1 lead to the bullpen.

For the second day in a row, the bullpen gave up a run to tie the game, before Hairston brought out his late game heroics that is quickly becoming accustom to. With one out in the bottom of the 7th in a tie game, Hairston crushed a triple to right center and was brought in by a Tadahito single in the next at bat.

The bullpen only needed one more. Heath Bell gave up a two out double, then shut down the 8th, and Hoffman came in and showed no ill effects from the previous night. He induced three harmless groundballs and went into the weekend as a winner.

Hairston finished 3 for 3 in Brian Giles' leadoff spot with two runs scored and Kooz went 2 for 4 with two RBI and a run scored.

The Padres stay at home for their first NL West games of the year with Dodgers who are just a half a game back of MY first place Padres.

Justin Germano will start the first game of the series vs Hiroki Korudo. The first start of 2008 for both players, and the first in MLB for Korudo.

Where Does Hoffman's 64th Blown Save Put Him

Trevor Hoffman blew a save for the 64th time last night, and I think most of us were very dissapointed. Most of us have been spoiled for a long time by the most prolific closer since the position became a mainstay. If we got to the ninth with a lead, we were going to win. Have things changed? I doubt it, but it probably isn't going to come quit as easy as it used to.

So now that Trevor has one save and one blown save in 2008, how does he rank with the other top closers of all time? That's a great question, right at the top. Goose Gossage, Rollie Fingers, Jeff Reardon, Lee Smith and Bruce Sutter all have not only more blown saves than the career leader, but almost twice as many. Lee Smith who is the second all time saves leader blew 103 saves.

The only player close to Hoffman in saves vs blown saves is, of course, Mariano Rivera who has 59 blown saves to his 444 saves. We won't get into the who is better discussion today with these two guys, we will come back to that one another day, but that puts him at 88.3%. Hoffy sits at a comfortable 89.1%.

Hoffman Blows First Save of 2008

I had the headline and first paragraph all cued up for tonight's post game article, and it appears that I jumped the gun. It appears that Hoffman is not the sure thing that I have grown up with. Let's hope I am wrong and this is just the rare blown save. I mean the guy saved over 40 games again last year prior to his playoff push collapse, so there is no reason to start doubting him, but it is so easy to go down that path.

It may just be me, but with two outs and nobody on, it looked like Jose Cruz jr was looking for a fastball and just hoping to get a piece of a change up if that was what he got. Hoffy threw two change-ups in the zone, one Cruz whiffed badly, and one he just got a piece of. Why then, would he throw him anything but a change up. Make the guy earn it.

Well Cruz got his fastball and poked a single, one of three straight ground ball singles that brought in the tying run. At that point, it was all over.

Tonight was the opposite of the last two nights, as the bats got it done and the pitching didn't. Brian Giles went 3 for 4 with 3 RBI, including a great sac fly in the bottom of the 8th to take back the lead we had lost in the top of the inning.

Adrian Gonzalez got his first dinger and Hairston got his second in two nights. Justin Huber joined the party tonight making a nice catch to close out the 7th, but it wasn't quite enough.

The Astros got most of it done with uncatchable balls. Berkman, Lee, Blum (that bastard) and Wigginton all went yard, and though watching Blum hit a jack for the wrong team hurt, none of them hurt quite like the ball Berkman drove over the centerfield wall to put down the Pads for good.

On the brighter side of things, this is only the third of 162 games and the Padres get another shot at the Astros tomorrow to win the first of many series' in 2008. You can't win them all, but if win every series we will be in good shape.

Hoffman Decides A Full Windup Is Too Much Of A Stretch

Trevor Hoffman started spring training open to the idea of pitching from the windup with nobody on base, but recently decided that the trade off wasn't worth the cost. Hoffman has pitched only from the stretch since Mike Roark (former Padres pitching coach) advised him to try and increase his accuracy by keeping it simple.

Pitchers usually use the wind up to generate more speed on their pitches, but the price you pay is usually with your accuracy. Hoffman decided that the little amount of speed he could generate was not worth the degree of difficulty, and it is hard to argue the point.

Trevore now has 524 saves and three straight years over 40, earning the "Best Closer of All Time" title along the way.

I think the imagine of Hoffy from the stretch will do just fine, and we all like that better with no one on base.