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When copying and pasting the header from last night's GDT, I took a peek at some of the comments towards the end. It didn't make for cheerful reading. We'll see how it goes today. The good news is, the last time Benson pitched in Petco, he went 8.1 innings, allowed one run, and got the win.Obviously, we'd be more than happy with that tonight.
The bad news? That was August 2005. Line-up and other stuff after the jump.
- Conor Jackson 1B
- Stephen Drew SS
- Justin Upton RF
- Mark Reynolds 3B
- Kelly Johnson 2B
- Chris Young CF
- Gerardo Parra LF
- Chris Snyder C
- Kris Benson P
Still no Adam LaRoche. Hmmm... Some of the Padres hitters have a little experience against Benson, but none even as many as five career PAs. In contrast, every one of our starting position players have seen Correia in ten or more PAs, all the way up to Stephen Drew's 36. So, in terms of familiarity, we should have a clear advantage over the Padres. Johnson (4-for-10, 2 HR), Parra (6-for-15) and Young (8-for-31, 4 HR) have done best so far.
But the main issue is likely going to be how the Padres do against Benson. He will be pitching six innings this evening. I virtually guarantee it, even if he has to clutch the ball in the ground-down stump of a shoulder. Hell, there's always Kevin Mulvey... But we need to give the bullpen something of a chance to breathe and get their act together. There will be no Juan Gutierrez or Aaron Heilman tonight. We probably want to keep away from Boyer, who has worked three of the past four games. And Esmerling Vasquez is no more. So, yep: six innings from Benson.
Bit of an odd start time; first pitch is five minutes after I get out from work. So I'll be rushing home to try and see the game for recap purposes - hope to break my 0-2 record on that front this evening. Mrs. SnakePit said she is picking up Pei Wei on the way here, so that's dinner all sorted. See you in the comments, when I arrive!