Musgrove and Machado dominate the home opener
The San Diego Padres improved their home record to 1-0 with a stellar showing from their star players against the Atlanta Braves last night.
I was going to dedicate today’s entire post to the MLB debut of MacKenzie Gore, but I felt it would be disrespectful to ignore the incredible performance of a couple of San Diego Padres in last night’s home opener. So, let’s first look back and then we’ll talk about tonight.
Another memory for Musgrove
Yesterday, I talked about how cool it must be to grow up a San Diego Padres fan and then eventually becoming the starting pitcher for the Padres’ home opener. Even cooler than that is dominating the reigning World Series champions as the starting pitcher for the Padres’ home opener.
6.2 IP, 4 H, 6 K
That’s his entire pitching line. There were zero walks, and zero runs given up. 72% of the pitches he threw were for strikes. To put it bluntly, Joe had unhittable stuff and was in the zone with it the whole night. We love to see it.
This is not the time for this conversation, but I do want to mention something I’ve been saying since Joe threw the first no-hitter in Padres history and a mural of him went up on his old school: He should never wear another jersey again. He is set to become a free agent after this season, and I sincerely hope that doesn’t happen.
Manny’s hot
This is hard to fathom, but Manny Machado is starting his fourth season with the Padres. By now, we know who he is.
Manny is a leader. Manny is an astounding defender. He is also never injured enough to not play, making him one of the toughest guys in baseball.
On offense, I don’t think it’s rude to say that Manny Machado can be streaky. His “cold” streaks are when he’s an above-average hitter, and his “hot” streaks are dominant.
Last night, Manny got hot. And we’ve known him long enough to know what that typically means. There’s a good chance this hot streak is going to last for several games or more.
5-6, HR, 2 RBI, 4 R, 2 SB
It may eventually get lost in the overall brilliance of the Padres offense last night, but this was a superstar performance by the San Diego Padres’ third baseman. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him making the same kind of consistent contact in tonight’s game.
Bump day
The Padres are coming off back-to-back great starting pitching performances from Sean Manaea and Joe Musgrove. Getting the ball tonight is the man we’ve dreamt about for five years now, MacKenzie Gore.
I wrote about Gore about a month ago, before he tore up spring training and dominated in his lone triple-A start, and said that I had faith that he would turn into the player we always hoped he would. It’s been a long and winding road to get here, but Gore is here now and his issues of the past (blisters, mechanics, confidence, etc.) appear to be behind him.
Here’s to hoping that a loud, sold-out crowd at Petco Park helps Gore to focus and that the story in tomorrow’s Bandwagon Beach isn’t about his nerves.