Time to hunker down and ride it out

A Ramble, by Griffster

So, there goes Lowe. I just hope he stays off the mound long enough to heal completely. I'd rather take one extra Tomko loss to give Lowe five extra days to get healthy. Think of September if you must. One outing too soon and an aggravated injury would not be good.

Wolf might be on his way back - but his 4.0 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 6 H, 4 K, 1 BB, 2 HR, 6.75 ERA effort at High A wasn't exactly confidence-inspiring. I'd rather have him take extra time to get up to speed, too. Although it has been pointed out to me that such a thought process is silly and that Wolf might as well finish gearing up at Major League level, I'd rather not have him overreach to try and prevent something like an 8-run, 5-inning tuneup and get injured again.

Kuo is reported done for the year after bone-chip removing surgery on his elbow. Rudy Seanez thinks he's found a flaw in his delivery that's caused him to surrender five homers in his last 4.2 innings. ( from 6-4-2 ). Well, one would hope Seanez can correct a flaw that provides home runs for the opposition. Can he next correct the flaw in Nomar's swing that causes him to not provide home runs for us?

But anyway. Right now, we run out Penny, Hendrickson, Tomko, Billingsley and Stults/Houlton/dearly acquired Nr 6 starter of the moment out on the mound. Not exactly a rotation to be inspired by, but we will have to make do.

All the team can do is pitch up to play every game, every day. I'll support them through series like this just-concluded Astros series, which was maddening for the hitters' inability to get it done when it mattered ( don't strand a triple! ) - because I've come to realize that baseball is up and down, and that you can't win every game, and you can't win every series against a bad team. You'll burn yourself out, go crazy or drive those around you crazy. I've peeked at a couple Padres blogs. The guys on there carry on as if the Padres just heard the clock strike midnight and turned themselves into a 25-man roster made up entirely of Oscar Robles and Roberto Hernandez clones. I like to think there's more class in L.A land, though we'd have to wait and see.

Martin's been having a mini-slump, and he's also mentioned in the press that he feels a little tired. Could we maybe, I dunno, rest the guy a little more so he still has something left in September? The announcers tell me that he's caught the most innings in the Majors. Seems to me that that's a category you may not want your catcher to lead the league in.

Kent's been perking up a little bit of late, and Nomar's perked up a bit too. Although his long line drive single last night made me feel a little sad. Initially I thought he really put it into that ball, but the line drive itself seemed surprisingly limp and tired. And he only reached first base on it. *coughcoughdecliningveterancoughcough*

We next play the Rockies, the Giants, and the Diamondbacks. I sincerely hope we win each and every of those series, although I don't know how confident of the team achieving this goal I should be feeling. I just know that it will make me feel a whole lot better if we do win those three series. I can do with feeling better right now.