Friar Watch

David Wells: Another tough outing for Boomer. He didn’t walk anyone but he left too many pitches in the heart of the plate. One benefit of having a veteran like Wells as your fifth starter is he’s able to hang in there when he doesn’t have his best stuff. Unfortunately that’s a skill Wells has had to rely on a lot this season.

Doug Brocail: With Wells only able to go five it was up to Brocail to bridge the middle innings and he did so effectively, only allowing one hit.

Heath Bell: One of Bell’s strongest outings yet. Gameday had some of his pitches at 99mph and one at 100. Note that this is out of the hand, the tv radar gun showed slightly slower speeds. 2 IP, 2 K, 1 BB. Bell is fun to watch, he goes right after the hitter and doesn’t waste pitches.

Cla Meredith: Cla was fantastic once again. He doesn’t get rattled when runners get on with a cheap hit or bad defensive play. He just goes right back to work and gets strikeouts and grounders to get out of the jam.

Kevin Cameron: Cameron threw 49 pitches in 2 innings and was visibly tiring in his second inning. He was missing badly on his pitches but was able to get Juan Pierre to pop out with the bases loaded to end the 13th.

Justin Hampson: Hampson came on in the 14th and pitched great for 3 innings. The lefty is the only Padre pitcher who’s shown an ability to control the running game, picking off Brady Clark. Hampson was on his way to another strong inning in the 17th when the Padre defense, weakened by a double switch, let him down. After Kent flied out Wilson Valdez hit a dribbler in front of the plate. Rob Bowen’s throw to first was a little high but very catchable. Black’s double switch in the 14th brought Pete LaForst in to play first and Pete couldn’t handle the throw, it was in his glove but popped out. Hampson got Martin to pop to short for what should have been the third out. Brady Clark took advantage of the extra out and hit a double and Valdez scored the go ahead run.

Hampson did a fantastic job and deserved a W but the team let him down. This is one extra inning loss you can’t blame on the bullpen.