Canterbury Baseball Club
by Sean Callahan 13 December 2006
Makoto Saito (2-0) pitched seven innings of six-hit ball, while the Padres offense slowly got moving in a mid-week game at Avonhead Park. Saito started roughly, giving up five runs in the first three innings, but then proceeded to retire the next 15 batters to close out the game.
With the Cardinals struggling to get their regulars to show up, a mixture of Mets and U15 national players filled in the gaps in the lineup (in fact, there were more Mets playing then Cardinals, so maybe we should charge the loss to the Mets - Ed.).
After the Padres scored an unearned run off Eric Cho in the first, the Cardinals took the lead as Cho lead-off with a double, went to third on Leigh Ryman's squibbler up the third base line and scored on Joshua Batchelor's sacrifice fly. Ryman then scored when Andy Alsop couldn't handle Chad Denny's grounder to second.
The Cardinals added two more in the second as Cho had an RBI double and the Padres made another error to let another run score.
Batchelor and Denny had back-to-back doubles in the third to make it 5-1.
Cho, meanwhile, was on cruise control, retiring the last nine batters he faced.
With Scott Woyak relieving Cho to start the fourth, the Padres welcomed the change of hurler with a two-out rally. Jason Drost singled, went to second on a passed ball and scored on Andrew Knowles' single.
The Padres reclaimed the lead in the fifth, as they reeled off four straight hits leading off the inning to cut the lead to 5-4. A wild pitch tied it and then the Cardinals lone error made it 6-5.
That was all Saito would need, as he rolled off four consecutive 1-2-3 innings, highlighted by Steven Bietchef's two catches in right field.
Notes: Despite previous statements to the contrary (due to editorial math errors), the Padres magic number is now two - any combination of Met losses and Padre wins will clinch the first half.
So.... The Mets must win the second game on Sunday to force a make-up of their postponed game from the 26th of November. If the the Mets do win, the Padres-Mets game will be played next Wednesday, 20 December, starting at 6:15PM.
With the Cardinals struggling to get their regulars to show up, a mixture of Mets and U15 national players filled in the gaps in the lineup (in fact, there were more Mets playing then Cardinals, so maybe we should charge the loss to the Mets - Ed.).
After the Padres scored an unearned run off Eric Cho in the first, the Cardinals took the lead as Cho lead-off with a double, went to third on Leigh Ryman's squibbler up the third base line and scored on Joshua Batchelor's sacrifice fly. Ryman then scored when Andy Alsop couldn't handle Chad Denny's grounder to second.
The Cardinals added two more in the second as Cho had an RBI double and the Padres made another error to let another run score.
Batchelor and Denny had back-to-back doubles in the third to make it 5-1.
Cho, meanwhile, was on cruise control, retiring the last nine batters he faced.
With Scott Woyak relieving Cho to start the fourth, the Padres welcomed the change of hurler with a two-out rally. Jason Drost singled, went to second on a passed ball and scored on Andrew Knowles' single.
The Padres reclaimed the lead in the fifth, as they reeled off four straight hits leading off the inning to cut the lead to 5-4. A wild pitch tied it and then the Cardinals lone error made it 6-5.
That was all Saito would need, as he rolled off four consecutive 1-2-3 innings, highlighted by Steven Bietchef's two catches in right field.
Notes: Despite previous statements to the contrary (due to editorial math errors), the Padres magic number is now two - any combination of Met losses and Padre wins will clinch the first half.
So.... The Mets must win the second game on Sunday to force a make-up of their postponed game from the 26th of November. If the the Mets do win, the Padres-Mets game will be played next Wednesday, 20 December, starting at 6:15PM.
Box Score